Utility vehicle market leader’s two plants in Haryana along with Suzuki Motor Gujarat’s facility hit a record monthly high last month, beating the previous best of 56,579 UVs in September 2023 and reflective of the robust demand for the company's SUVs and MPVs.
12 Feb 2024 | 16359 Views | By Ajit Dalvi
Maruti Suzuki India, which is witnessing surging consumer demand for its range of SUVs and MPVs, has ramped up production to meet the wave of bookings coming its way. The passenger vehicle market leader manufactured a total of 200,767 passenger vehicles in January 2024, an increase of 13% year on ...
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Maruti Suzuki India, which is witnessing surging consumer demand for its range of SUVs and MPVs, has ramped up production to meet the wave of bookings coming its way. The passenger vehicle market leader manufactured a total of 200,767 passenger vehicles in January 2024, an increase of 13% year on year (January 2023: 178,429 units). Of its five vehicle sub-segments, vehicle production of utility vehicles (UVs) saw the highest YoY growth – the 58,226 units are a 100% YoY increase – an additional 29,129 UVs – over January 2023’s 29,097 units.
The 58,226 UVs manufactured in January 2024 are a 99.89% YoY increase. In CY2023, Maruti Suzuki produced 499,618 UVs, up 27% YoY and just 382 units short of the 500,000 mark.
A look at the UV production data for CY2023 as January 2024 (detailed above) reveals just how Maruti Suzuki has ramped up its production to cater to demand what with new models like the Grand Vitara and the Fronx. Following the launch of the petrol-engined Fronx in end-April 2023 and the CNG Fronx in July 2023, overall UV production saw a marked increase in the subsequent months in sync with demand for other popular SUVs and the Ertiga. The Fronx has since surpassed sales of 100,000 units, barely 10 months after launch.
It's a similar story with the Brezza compact SUV, which got added tailwind with the launch of the CNG variant in March 2023. The Brezza, which has clocked over a million sales since its launch in March 2016, has sold its last 100,000 units in just eight months. Clearly, this rapid pace of demand has put the onus on Maruti Suzuki to produce as many UVs as it can to cater to consumer demand in what is an ultra-competitive marketplace teeming with around 110 UVs and a mind-boggling 800 variants.
This production data, as detailed in Maruti Suzuki’s vehicle production statistics, includes output from both its plants in Haryana as well as Suzuki Motor Gujarat (Brezza, Ertiga, Fronx, Jimny, XL6 as well as the model Maruti produces for Toyota Kirloskar Motor – Toyota Rumion). The Innova-based Toyota Rumion MPV, which is manufactured at Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant and supplied to Toyota Kirloskar Motor, is the second re-badged model Maruti Suzuki supplies to Toyota in India after the Baleno-based Glanza hatchback.
Maruti Suzuki UV sales in first 10 months of FY2024 surpass half-a-million mark
The high output from its factories in January is because Maruti Suzuki is on a roll when it comes to SUV and MPV sales of the eight-model UV portfolio comprising the Brezza, Grand Vitara, Fronx, Jimny, S-Cross, XL6, Ertiga and the new Invicto. While the 166,802 PVs the company sold in January 2024 are up 13% YoY, the 62,308 UVs despatched to showrooms across India constitute the second-best monthly UV performance after July 2023's 62,049 units, falling short by just 11 units.
Just how strong the demand continues to be for Maruti Suzuki’s SUVs and MPVs is reflected in their 10-month cumulative sales: 522,626 units, up 77% YoY (April 2022-January 2023: 295,525 units). This translates into an additional 227,101 UVs being sold compared to the year-ago period, with the April 2023-January 2024 UV sales contributing 36.12% to the company’s total PV sales of 1.44 million units in the first 10 months of FY2024. Sustained demand for its SUVs and MPVs, particularly the new Nexa models, means that the UV share is a third of total passenger vehicles, helping buffer the 42% decline in the sales of the Alto and S-Presso in the past 10 months.
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