In addition to domestic sales, Maruti Suzuki Managing Director Hisashi Takeuchi said the company will export electric vehicles to Europe and Japan to increase customer confidence.
“On top of that, we will come up with a range of solutions for our EV customers to remove their concerns on owning an EV. We will use the strength of our network to give confidence to the customers for after-sale support”, he informed. Takeuchi was speaking on the sidelines of the 64th Annual Convention of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
Maruti Suzuki will launch the first electric vehicle a mid-size SUV eVX at the Bharat Mobility Show (BMS) next year. The model would come with a driving range of over 500 kms.
Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer (marketing and sales) at Maruti Suzuki, said the biggest concern for EV users is regarding the range. “Secondly, it is the EV infrastructure and thirdly it is about the residual value of the vehicle after five years,” Banerjee informed.
Along with electric vehicles, Takeuchi said the company will launch strong hybrids, hydrogen and bio-fuel drive models to reduce carbon emissions and oil consumption. “India has been gifted with huge human resources, agricultural resources, and animal resources. All of these produce some bio-waste, these can be converted into biofuels. These biofuels have a very low carbon footprint and many times are actually carbon negative. Though there are many countries in the world who are using the power of biofuels, I think India can quickly become world’s Number 1 in biofuels and the rest of the world can start learning from India”, Takeuchi said. The country can also harness solar and wind to generate renewable energy, Takeuchi said, adding, “India, we need not copy solutions from the rest of the world.”Separately, Banerjee said passenger vehicle sales, which had remained subdued in the first five months of the fiscal year, are likely to pick up during this festive with healthy monsoons, good crop yields putting more money in hands of rural buyers.
“We have seen 10% increase in bookings in Kerala ahead of Onam. On the first day of Ganesh Chaturthi our deliveries in Maharashtra and Karnataka have gone up by 10%. These are positive indications. We will see upside in the industry now onwards. However, if you compare with last year growth may seem muted because of the high base of last year.”
Sales of passenger vehicles declined two straight months to decline by 2-3% to 350,000-355,000 units in August this year. Carmakers are hopeful of a revival in demand this festive season, with the commencement of Ganesh Chaturthi in Maharashtra on September 7 and during Onam in Kerala between September 14-16.
Banerjee said, “The expectation is it will be much, much better than the current situation. We will be seeing upside from here.” Year-on-year the growth in festive sales though may be modest due to the high base of last year.
