Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki plans to launch seven new SUVs over the next five-six years as it looks to strengthen its position in India’s fast-growing sport utility vehicle segment, managing director and CEO Hisashi Takeuchi said Tuesday.“The share of SUVs within the Indian passenger vehicle market has been growing rapidly. Maruti Suzuki is expanding its product offerings in the SUV segment to secure market share,” Takeuchi said during an investor presentation, adding that the company will introduce an entry-level car “unique to Suzuki” for first-time buyers in India.A late entrant in the segment, the company has been increasing its SUV presence and has garnered 19.6% of the market so far in 2025-26 (April-Feb), driven by recent launches such as Brezza, Grand Vitara, Fronx and Jimny. Takeuchi added that the company will undertake expansion in the medium and large SUV and MPV portfolio for upgraded customer preference.Maruti Suzuki also plans to scale up production capacity to around four million units annually over time to meet rising domestic demand and strengthen its position as a global export hub. The company exported about 3.3 lakh units in FY24, with expansion in markets like Africa and West Asia, and will start exporting electric vehicles to Europe and Japan.Separately, in a regulatory filing, the company said that it had received a draft income tax assessment order of Rs 5,786 crore for 2022-23 as additions to its declared income. Maruti Suzuki said it will challenge the order before the Dispute Resolution Panel.
