Mid, long-term prospects remain strong for the Indian automotive market: Kenichi Ayukawa

The vaccination drive being undertaken by the government, rapid development of road infrastructure and a young aspirational population ensure good growth will soon return to the Indian market, he added.

Both bookings and enquiries remained strong for the market leader in the recently concluded festive season, he said. The company currently has pending orders of more than 250,000 units. It is working closely with supply-chain partners to ease supply constraints and accelerate deliveries.

“In September, we lost about 60% of our production. In October we recovered, but lost 40%. Even in November, we are losing 15% or something. Situation has begun improving but still challenging. Globally, all industries are facing difficulties,” Ayukawa said on the sidelines of the launch of Maruti Suzuki’s all-new Celerio hatchback, priced at Rs 4.99-6.94 lakh (ex-showroom).

He said the company is working on introducing a product in the fast-growing sport utility vehicle segment shortly. But it will continue to focus on hatchbacks which account for 46% of all passenger vehicles sold in the local market.

“There is a trend pushing SUV sales but then we also have demand other than that. We have to provide options for them also. We are offering fuel efficient, sporty cars. I think such models are very, very important for customers”, he said.

Ayukawa admitted that the company is a “little behind” on introducing more products in the SUV segment, which has been growing at a fast clip. But he “hopes” to corner the pole position in the category once there are more products in the market.

At present, Hyundai and Kia with models such as the Hyundai Creta, Hyundai Venue, Kia Sonet and the Kia Seltos dominate the SUV segment in the Indian market.

Ayukawa said despite increasing competition from Korean and European rivals, Maruti Suzuki intends to retain and enhance its market share in the country. “We try to keep and enhance our share anytime. That is the company’s purpose and target. As long as we bring good products to the customer, maybe we can keep good results,” he said. “Unfortunately, the past year, especially this year, we cannot provide our product to the market, that is the big issue for us. If we can produce good enough volume, we can keep the same share, but (right now) the result is different. Customer is there, but we cannot provide,” the managing director said, referring to the component shortage hurting production.

Separately, Ayukawa said while Maruti Suzuki can drive in some models from the Toyota stable on the back of the collaboration between parent Suzuki Motor and Toyota, it will continue to develop multiple environment-friendly technologies, be it electric, CNG, ethanol or hydrogen powered options, on its own.

“The Toyota and Suzuki collaboration is a different story. Of course, through that we can get models in the future. But at the same time, we ourselves are developing new type of vehicles. We quit diesel one-and-a-half years back. We will try to develop environment-friendly products like CNG vehicles and also EV and hydrogen. Right now, we are not concerned about diesel vehicles,” he said.