Maruti Suzuki has achieved the cumulative sales milestone of 25 million cars and SUVs, becoming the first manufacturer to make this record.
The 25 million sales milestone comes 40 years after Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan signed a joint venture agreement with Maruti Udyog, the predecessor of Maruti Suzuki, in 1982.
- Maruti Suzuki surpassed 25 million production milestone in November 2022
- Approximately 2.1 million hybrid, CNG models sold so far
- Suzuki to launch six new EVs by 2030 in India
This sales milestone comes a little over two months after Maruti Suzuki achieved cumulative production of over 25 million units in November, making it the only Indian company to have achieved this milestone in passenger vehicle production.
Maruti Suzuki began producing cars 40 years ago
The company, which began its operations in 1983 and rolled out the car which put India on wheels – the Maruti 800 – today has two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, located in Gurugram and Manesar in Haryana. Both the facilities together have a manufacturing capacity of 1.5 million units per annum.
Maruti Suzuki took 23 years from the start of production to cross the 5 million sales milestone in February 2006, the next 5 million units took six years. Number accelerated even more later on with the run from 10 million to 20 million units taking seven years. The last 5 million units have taken just four years, with the 25-million mark being surpassed earlier this month.
At present, Maruti Suzuki sells 17 models in India and is making efforts to make hybrid and CNG models more popular. Maruti Suzuki has so far clocked cumulative sales of hybrid and CNG models of approximately 2.1 million units.
Maruti Suzuki sells over 1.5 million units in 2022
In 2022, Maruti Suzuki sold over 1.5 million units recording a 15 percent yearly growth. Its smaller cars like the Celerio, Wagon R, Swift, Ignis, Baleno accounted for a bulk of the brand’s growth – which with 8,69,040 units accounted for 55 percent of Maruti Suzuki’s sales in 2022. The carmaker’s SUVs and MPVs contributed 21 percent total sales last year selling 3,37,157 units.
Its entry-level models, the Alto and S-Presso – with 2,27,824 units sold – registered a decline of over 17 percent due to a flagging demand in the mass market segment.
Maruti Suzuki has an estimated order backlog of 3,50,000 units. It would have fared better had production not been impacted at different times during the year due to the semiconductor supply chain issue.
Maruti Suzuki in second place in MPV, SUV sales
In the ongoing FY 2023, Maruti Suzuki was in the second place for Utility Vehicle (UV) sales, behind Tata Motors. Despite the semiconductor crisis, between April-December 2022, Maruti Suzuki sold 2,60,172 SUVs and MPVs registering a 22 percent growth compared to the same period last year. However, Maruti’s pace of growth in this segment is slower than both Tata and Mahindra – both of whom have more UV models.
The carmaker is expected to claw back UV market share with its new Grand Vitara along with a sustained demand for the new Brezza and the Ertiga.
Six new Maruti EVs by 2030
Suzuki recently announced that it will have six new EVs in India by FY2030. The first fully electric Maruti will hit the Indian roads by 2025, and it will be the production version of the eVX midsize SUV concept shown at Auto Expo 2023. Maruti Suzuki will focus on smaller and mass-market EVs.
In the near future, Maruti Suzuki will be launching the Fronx SUV and the much-anticipated Jimny off-roader. The two models made their global debut at Auto Expo 2023 and bookings for them are already underway.
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