How Maruti Suzuki Intends To Regain 50 Per Cent Market Share In India

The biggest player in the Indian automotive market, Maruti Suzuki, wants to have an even bigger piece of the pie. From having a market share of over 50 per cent, Maruti Suzuki now only commands a market share of around 41 per cent. But the Indian auto giant wants to regain its holding.

Speaking in an exclusive interaction with Acko Drive, Hisashi Takeuchi, MD & CEO, Maruti Suzuki, said the focus of the brand going forward will remain on SUVs. On the topic of the brand’s current line-up, Takeuchi said, “Whenever the time comes we will do the minor change or model change like we did for Swift and you know Dzire.”

However, to become the leader with more than half of the market share, Maruti Suzuki plans to have more SUVs. Takeuchi said, “Basically the additional and completely new products will be in the SUV space.” This is because, for the longest time, SUVs have been the flavour of the town with compact and subcompact SUVs taking up the lion’s share of the market. 

In the compact SUV space, Maruti Suzuki has the Grand Vitara and in the subcompact SUV space, it has not one but two models – the Brezza and Fronx. One segment where Maruti Suzuki is still not present is the micro SUV segment where it can give serious competition to the Tata Punch and Hyundai Exter. In 2024, the Punch was the highest-selling model in the country, cementing the fact that the segment has potential and if Maruti Suzuki had been there, the Punch would have had a tough time winning that crown. 

The upcoming e Vitara could also help Maruti Suzuki regain the 50 per cent market share. The brand took its time to bring out its first electric vehicle (EV) and it chose the competitive compact electric SUV segment. Another milestone Maruti Suzuki wants to achieve with the e Vitara is becoming the number one EV player in the market after one year.