Maruti Suzuki’s highest growth among all its body styles was in its SUV range. FY24 saw it launch the Jimny and then the Fronx crossover and of this, the latter has been a major catalyst achieving over 1 lakh units sold within 12 months of arriving in the market.
The Indo-Japanese automaker moved 4.43 lakh SUVs in FY24 compared to 2.02 lakh units in FY23. No doubt this has come on the back of the launch of the Fronx as well as sales of the Grand Vitara. The growth of the body style has come on the back of a decade-wide demand, a game that Maruti Suzuki has been late to but is now here and seeing instant results. It had held a 47.7 per cent market share in FY20 which got to its lowest point of 41.3 per cent in FY22. It had clawed back this number to 41.6 per cent in FY 24, no doubt helped by the expanded SUV range.
However, the growth of SUVs has consumed share from its other major segment with the largest hit coming from the entry-level mini-segment which saw the number drop from 2.33 lakh in FY23 to 1.42 lakh in FY24. The automaker has said in the past that sales in this part of the market would remain more or less stagnant for consecutive FYs due to various factors like demand for bigger cars and increase in prices of smaller vehicles. It expects to see a return to form in this part of the market in FY28.
Maruti’s current SUV lineup comprises the Fronx crossover, Brezza compact SUV, Grand Vitara and the Jimny. This lineup will be expanded in the next FY by the addition of the eVX electric SUV, an electric Fronx, an electric Jimny and at least one SUV-styled vehicle below the Fronx and Brezza to take on the Tata Punch and Hyundai Exter.
