Maruti market share at risk with rising preference for SUVs: Shinzo Nakanishi

Shinzo Nakanishi, the outgoing CEO and Managing Director of Maruti Suzuki India, on Friday said the company will face a challenge in increasing or maintaining its market share because of the increasing preference for SUVs and multi-purpose vehicles in the country.

Nakanishi, 65, who has been associated with MSI since its inception three decades ago, will retire on April 1 and Kenichi Ayukawa will take over as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

"The SUVs and multi-purpose vehicles segment has been growing very fast in India but we are not growing there. We need to have a stronger presence there. Having just the Ertiga is not enough," Nakanishi said.

He said while the company has been focusing on small cars, which it its strength, the competition has been tough and the "challenge for MSI" is to have a bigger presence in the SUV/MPVs segment in order to "increase or maintain its market share".

According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), while passenger car sales in India during the April -February period this financial year has declined by 4.64 per cent to 17,14,796 units, compared to 17,98,155 in the year-ago period, utility vehicles sales have grown by 54.46 per cent to 4,99,794 units from 3,23,584 units last financial year.

"We have to bring some more models there," Nakanishi said, without elaborating on the company's plans for launching new products in the segment.

In last year's Auto Expo, the company had showcased a concept of a compact SUV named XA Alpha.

Citing another challenge for Maruti Suzuki India, the outgoing CEO said the company has been pushing for reducing the level of import by its vendors to bring down the overall cost but "it is still slow and we have to discuss with them how to increase the overall levels of localisation".

Nakanishi, who described his first visit to India way back in 1982 "was like coming with a blind eye", was confident that the current slump in the market is temporary and the country will become one of the biggest auto markets in the world.

"At that time I didn't know India... but over the years we have grown here. Yes, the market is slow right now but in the long term, the auto industry and India have a bright future considering the country's economy, expected increase in per capita income and growth of middle class," he said, adding prospects for growth of auto industry in India was brighter even when compared to his home country Japan.

"There (in Japan) the youngsters don't want to buy cars, they use the public transport system more. I hope it doesn't happen here (in India)," he quipped.

with inputs from PTI