Maruti Suzuki unveils Jimny, Fronx; eyes top slot in SUV segment

Maruti Suzuki on Thursday (January 12) unveiled two new products – Jimny and Fronx – in India in a bid to secure the top position in the sports utility vehicle segment and regain 50 percent market share in the country’s passenger vehicles market.

With semiconductor shortage issues gradually tapering off, the company expects the supply of its models, especially SUVs which have large pending orders, to get better in the ongoing quarter.

Medium-term goals

“The company’s medium-term goal has been to get back 50 percent market share and secure the number one position in the SUV segment,” Maruti Suzuki India MD and CEO, Hisashi Takeuchi, said while unveiling the products at the Auto Expo 2023 in Greater Noida.

“I am confident that Maruti Suzuki will attain the number one position in the SUV segment in the financial year 23-24,” Takeuchi said.

Also read: Maruti Suzuki will not walk away but fight to get back to 50 pc market share: RC Bhargava

In an interaction with reporters on the sidelines, while he did not share a timeline for getting to 50 percent market share, Takeuchi said a more realistic target was to get to around 45 percent in 2023-24, and the SUVs would play a key role in it.

In 2022, India’s passenger vehicles market is estimated to have clocked record sales of 37.93 lakh units at a growth of 23 percent.

Jimny to be manufactured at the Gurugram plant

Takeuchi said Jimny would be manufactured at the company’s Gurugram plant. India is the only country where the five-door version of the model is being manufactured.

“Jimny in its five-door avatar is being unveiled first in India today. Positioned as an all-terrain, robust, compact, lifestyle SUV, this authentic 4-Wheel-Drive off-roader can tackle the harshest of terrains,” he added.

The vehicle would also be exported from India to other markets, he said, adding that Jimny came with half a century of heritage. Suzuki has sold more than 3.2 million units of Jimny worldwide, in 199 countries and regions.

Also read: Maruti Suzuki deploys twin-pronged strategy to enhance market share

Bookings for both Jimny and Fronx opened on Thursday (January 12), and Takeuchi said deliveries were expected to commence “this spring”. Both vehicles would be sold through the company’s Nexa retail outlets.

On the semiconductor shortage issue, he said due to supply constraints, models like Grand Vitara, Brezza, XL6, and Ertiga had big backlog orders.

Supply situation of semiconductors getting better

“We expect from the fourth quarter of this financial year, the supply situation of semiconductors will get better. So we think to some extent, we will be able to supply and reduce those backlog orders but that does not mean we can clear all those, as the backlog is huge,” he added.

At present, the company has a total order book of around 3.2 lakh units, down from around 4 lakh units last year.

He said Maruti Suzuki had also enhanced its production capacity by adding 1 lakh units per year at its Manesar plant, while the plant of Suzuki Motor Gujarat had reached its peak capacity.

Last fiscal, the market share of Maruti Suzuki in the SUV space stood at just 10.9 percent.
The lower share in the SUV market is seen as the reason for an overall drop in market share for the company in the passenger vehicle segment.

From 51% in the fiscal year 2019, the market share dropped down to around 42% in the second quarter of this fiscal year.