Maruti Suzuki is hopeful that the recently launched Invicto will pave the way for an all-new customer base.
Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer - Sales and Marketing, told Mobility Outlookthat the new offering would help the company get better market perspective in its quest for making more premium products in the SUV/MPV space.
He made it clear that while Invicto volumes would be relatively modest, the bigger goal was to create the right premium positioning for brand Maruti. Over 6,200 bookings have been reportedly received at the time of its launch.
Invicto is expected to spawn the creation of a new customer base for Maruti products priced at over INR 20 lakh in the three-row space. The company’s own market research shows that 58% customers, seeking a three-row, seven-seater product at this price range, will opt for either SUVs or MPVs.
This buyer base also understands the product and technology which, in turn, has prompted Maruti to hone the training levels at its Nexa dealerships. Srivastava said a mix of soft skills and technical training has been put in place over the last 3-4 months.
First Premium Experiment
Maruti had introduced the Grand Vitara and Kizashi over a decade earlier as part of its endeavour to build a premium presence going beyond the entry-level imagery. However, the response was lukewarm largely because of their higher price tags on account of being directly imported and slapped with levies “We could not provide the right price point for these premium features,” said Srivastava.
With the Invicto, Maruti is confident of taking on rival models such as the MG Hector Plus, Kia Carnival, Mahindra XUV 700, Scorpio N, Hyundai Alcazar and Tata Safari. Clearly, the global partnership between Toyota and Suzuki is playing an important role here (Invicto and the Hycross are part of a common platform).
According to Srivastava, while the Innova Hycross is well established in the market, Maruti’s vast retail network will come in handy for Invicto especially in Tier 2/3 regions at a later stage. The company’s premium drive began with the creation of its Nexa network eight years ago and it houses products right from Baleno to the Grand Vitara.
Till FY22, Maruti only had Brezza in the SUV space with Ertiga and XL6 as its MPVs. Things have changed since then with a far more aggressive posture in these two segments. Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director and CEO, said during the Invicto launch that Grand Vitara, Fronx and Jimny had helped the company increase its SUV market share from 8% in Q1FY23 to 22% in Q1FY24.
Small Remains Relevant
Srivastava, however, reiterated that a focus on all segments was critical in achieving market share beyond 50%. As he put it, there are people who still give top priority to price, fuel efficiency, after-sales etc and it is here that small and affordable cars are the best bet. Interestingly, the value-for-money mantra is evident in Invicto too where ADAS features have been dropped since they would have put added more price pressure on customers.
Though the market for small cars is decreasing YoY, absolute numbers show that the segment is steadily growing. As Srivastava explained, entry level vehicle sales totalled 13.4 lakh units last fiscal up from 11.6 lakh units in FY22. With public transport still not easily available in the country, young customers graduating from two-wheelers prefer to have their own cars.
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