Highlights:
- The Chairman of Maruti Suzuki stated that any EV launch will take place after 2025.
- The parent company, Suzuki Motor Corporation, will disclose the timeline for Maruti Suzuki’s entry into the EV market.
- According to Bhargava, it is currently difficult to anticipate the pricing of electric vehicles.
Maruti Suzuki, unlike other automakers, is not in a hurry to get on the electric car bandwagon just yet. Chairman RC Bhargava stated on Wednesday
Because the market for such cars is currently low, the business will not offer electric vehicles only after 2025. He also stated that after Maruti Suzuki joins the EV mobility market, the business would seek to sell 10,000 units each month.
During a video conference after the release of the automaker’s second-quarter earnings results, Bhargava stated, “The volume of EVs on the market are in hundreds, which makes us a little less enthused. If I start selling EVs, I’d like to sell 10,000 EVs in a month or something like that.”
“If I sell 2 million cars per year, would it make sense for me to sell less than 100,000 cars each year? I need a car that is more sellable. There has to be more demand for the product.”
He also stated that many ancillaries in the EV ecosystem, including as batteries, charging infrastructure, and power supply, are now handled by third parties, therefore costs is out of the company’s hands.
The Chairman of Maruti Suzuki also stated that the company never declared that it was launching a commercial EV in the first place, and that he has no idea when it will be launched. However, it will arrive before 2025, he added.
“It all depends on factors market conditions like how the infrastructure is built up, pricing of electric batteries etc. Costing is not in our hands. Batteries are scarce because there is a global demand for batteries.”
He made the comment in response to a question on the increased demand for EVs in India and the company’s perspectives on the market, which comes at a time when competitor Tata Motors is seeing a positive response to its EVs.
Bhargava also stated that the parent company, Suzuki Motor Corporation, will reveal the timing for the automaker’s debut into the market.
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The company tested an electric car based on its WagonR model in 2019 with hopes to launch in 2020, but opted against a commercial launch due to a lack of infrastructure and government cooperation.
When asked if the government’s production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for Electric Vehicles (EVs) will push the company to speed its EV plans, Bhargava responded, “In any case our programme of launching an EV is not going to change because of PLI scheme. I think a laugh date or when you expect to launch the vehicle is something to be decided basically by Suzuki in Japan.”
Maruti Suzuki India recorded a year-on-year fall in net profit in Q2FY22 of more than 65% on Wednesday. Net profit decreased to Rs 475.3 crore in the current quarter, down from Rs 1,371.6 crore in Q2FY21. However, the company’s net sales for the period under consideration increased to Rs 19, 297.8 crore, up from Rs 17,689.3 crore in Q2FY21. “The firm sold a total of 379,541 vehicles during the quarter, hampered by a global shortfall of electronic component supply,” the automaker stated in a statement. “In the domestic market, sales reached 320,133 units. Exports were 59,408 units, the most in any quarter.”