Maruti Suzuki weighs option of offering used car subscription, expands current programme

As the automobile market evolves, subscription-based ownership is also gradually gaining ground. To tap the trend better, car market leader Maruti Suzuki has expanded its model portfolio available under Maruti Suzuki Subscribe and is also considering offering used cars under this subscribe model.

The WagonR, Ignis and S-Cross are now available under this ownership programme. The all-inclusive monthly subscription charge now starts at Rs 12,722 for the WagonR Lxi in Delhi (including taxes) for a tenure of 48 months. Along with more models, Maruti Suzuki plans to offer the subscription model in six more cities during this financial year. Currently, as a pilot project it is available in 8 cities – Delhi, Gurugram, Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chennai.

The OEM is also weighing the option of offering pre-owned cars under Maruti Suzuki Subscribe and add scale to the business by tapping an additional customer segment.

With such a move, it plans to take the subscription ownership model to over 2000 cities across India through its retail network.

Maruti Suzuki expects its newest business vertical to be a significant contributor to its overall sales. "If the current trends of this asset light ownership sales model continues Subscription can contribute significantly to sales," said Shashank Srivastava, ED – marketing and sales, Maruti Suzuki in an interview with Autocar Professional recently. There are currently around 11,000 'active cases' under verification in the Maruti Suzuki Subscribe business.