Suzuki predicts India market to expand 2% in FY25, Maruti to outpace industry growth

New Delhi: Japanese auto major Suzuki Motor Corp expects car sales in India to grow 2% in the ongoing financial year and its local subsidiary, Maruti Suzuki, to perform better than the market, helping it recover lost market share in the country.India is a bright spot for the Japanese auto giant, accounting for as much as 89% of the incremental volume of 168,000 units sold by Suzuki globally in the last fiscal year. While sales fell in several key markets – by 56.5% in Pakistan, 13.3% in Indonesia, 38.5% in Thailand, 9.8% in Latin America and 14.8% in Africa – the Indian subsidiary posted a 9% increase in volume at 1.79 million units in fiscal 2024. With this, Maruti Suzuki accounted for 56.6% of the 3.17 million cars sold by the automaker globally.

The company’s sales in Asia (excluding India) dropped 31.2% to 178,000 units, primarily due to restrictions on imports in Pakistan due to a shortage in foreign currency. Forex restrictions in Africa too hurt imports into the continent, Suzuki said in an investor presentation Monday.

However, sales rose in the home market of Japan and Europe, but on a low base.

While sales in Japan rose by 7.5% to 674,000 units, those in Europe grew 37.9% to 236,000 units.

Suzuki, in the investor presentation that ET has seen, said it expects Maruti Suzuki to outperform the market this fiscal year, driven by new model launches and increase in production of CNG-run vehicles which were in short supply last financial year.The company plans to expand its portfolio of SUVs in the market here to take on competition.“We strengthened our SUV line-up and rapidly expanded our SUV market share. We will continue to promote the expansion of our SUV models and aim to recover our total passenger car share,” the company said.

Maruti Suzuki – which has introduced nearly half a dozen vehicles in the fast-growing SUV segment in the last 12-18 months, ranging from the entry level Fronx to Brezza, Grand Vitara and Jimny – sold 443,000 SUVs last fiscal year, more than double compared with 202,000 units in FY23.

Last fiscal year, Suzuki said, both the passenger vehicle market in India as well as its subsidiary’s sales in the country touched record levels. The product mix also improved during the year due to growing sales of SUVs and utility vehicles.

“Regarding the sales of SUVs, following last year, we have continued to aggressively introduce SUV models in this period, resulting in a market share of 20.8% in the SUV segment. By expanding our share in the SUV segment, which accounts for 50% of the Indian passenger car market, we aim to recover our overall passenger car market share,” the company said.

In the ongoing fiscal year, the automaker forecasts global sales to grow 2.7% to 3.25 million units. It expects “to offset the increase in costs for R&D expenses and fixed costs due to growth investments, with the increase in sales volume, and we anticipate setting new record highs for both sales and profits” the company said. Suzuki also plans to finalise strategies across various functions including technology roadmap and put in place a new mid-term management plan by the end of this fiscal year.