Maruti to set up holistic ecosystem for buyers as it prepares to enter EV space

NEW DELHI New Delhi: India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India is looking to set up a holistic ecosystem for electric vehicle buyers as it prepares to introduce its first battery-powered model early next year. The company will also look at other important elements such as setting up charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and resale opportunities for such models.

“We are not just going to launch products but we are basically going to provide a complete ecosystem for the customers who are going to be part of the electric vehicle family,” Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Senior Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales) Partho Banerjee told reporters on the sidelines of the 64th SIAM Annual Session here. He said the biggest concern for EV users is the range.

“Secondly, it is the EV infrastructure and thirdly it is about the residual value of the vehicle after five years,” Banerjee said. He said the company's first EV model, a mid-size SUV, will be unveiled at the India Mobility Show in January next year. The model will come with a driving range of over 500 km, he said.

On sales expectations from this year's festive season, Banerjee said: “We are going to see some positivity during the festive period…we are very optimistic about it.” He added: “Hopefully, it will be much better than the current situation. We will look at an upward trend from here.” When asked about rising inventory levels, Banerjee said the company has taken a conscious decision to calibrate dispatches to dealers.

“We have reduced dispatches to our dealers for a very simple reason because we basically want to calibrate wholesale as well as retail sales so that we have a healthy network stock,” he said. He added that earlier this month, the automaker had 36 days of network stock. He also said that the company's rural penetration has reached an all-time high of 50 per cent.