Maruti Super Carry’s low response raises Questions!
Published On May 31, 2017
Maruti Suzuki India, the largest passenger carmaker of the country might take some serious decision on its one and only commercial vehicle ‘Super Carry’. Launched 10 months back, the light commercial vehicle has not made great strides in the domestic market as the company was able to sell only 1,300 units till April 2017.
The Super Carry is a light weight cargo truck with a 793cc two-cylinder engine that produces 33bhp and 75Nm of max torque, mated to five speed manual transmission. The vehicle is known for its excellent fuel efficiency of 22kmpl with a payload capacity of 740kgs, all that comes in a reasonable price of INR 4 lakh. Despite of all the virtues, the vehicle has failed to make a mark in the commercial space till date.
Kenichi Ayukawa, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, MSIL said, “We are not much familiar with the commercial vehicles segment, but we are gradually expanding. We have already started in 11 States, but the number is very small. At this moment, we don’t have any target numbers, but soon we will set a target after reviewing the past year’s results (numbers) and what kind of responses we have got”.
He also said that since the vehicle is only available in the diesel variant and cities like Mumbai and Delhi only allow CNG run commercial vehicles, it will take time to reach these markets. According to some experts, Super Carry’s low response is due to the strong grip of bestselling products like Tata Ace and Mahindra Jeeto in the segment. Moreover, dealership network of Maruti Suzuki for selling its commercial vehicles is very small, so it is also an important factor when it comes to retailing more volumes in the domestic market.
The sub-1 tonne category of commercial vehicles is one of the highest selling segments and even biggies like Ashok Leyland are not taking risk to compete as Tata Ace has strong foothold in the segment. Some other opines that Maruti Super Carry will only be successful until and unless company focuses on multiplying its channels. Also, Maruti Suzuki is a newbie in the commercial space, so it has to introduce more products in order to cement its position in the market and that is what it will be doing in the next few months.
