Having exited the diesel space, the cleaner vehicles portfolio powered by Compressed Natural Gas and Hybrid engines accounted for 38 percent for Maruti Suzuki in FY23, with the conventional petrol vehicle sales remaining stable at about 1 million units.

As part of its initiatives to support the Government of India’s carbon neutrality, Suzuki Motor Corporation told investors in Japan on Monday, that instead of focusing solely on battery electric vehicles, Suzuki Motor will offer a variety of options, including CNG and HEV (Hybrid Electric Vehicles).

Of the total sales of 1.64 million units in the domestic market in FY23, the cleaner vehicles - CNG and Hybrid vehicle sales were at 6.25 lakh units. This was 3.69 lakh or 27 percent of its total sales in FY22.

Maruti Suzuki sold about 10,000 units of Strong Hybrid Vehicle and about 2.86 lakh units - of mild hybrids and 3.29 lakh units of CNG in FY23 versus 2.34 lakh units of CNG cars and SUVs and 1.35 lakh units of Mild hybrid vehicles in FY22.

"Over the last three years, the number of vehicles with conventional engines has remained around 1 million, while the number of CNG and HEVs have increased. CNG vehicles emit 17 percent less Co2 than regular gasoline-powered vehicles, making them more environmentally friendly. The government of India also advocates the use of CNG vehicles to achieve carbon neutrality. We want to contribute to carbon neutrality through a multi-path that includes CNG, HEVs, etc rather than just focusing on BEV," added the statement from Suzuki Motor Corporation.

The CNG sales accounted for a fifth of the total sales of Maruti Suzuki last fiscal year, making up for the lost ground to diesel, whereas mild hybrids' share was at 17 percent and strong hybrids were less than 1 percent at 10,000 units.

Maruti Suzuki offers CNG alternatives in over a dozen vehicles in its portfolio and it is exploring the possibility of fitting in CNG powertrain into mid-size SUVs in the future too.

While the recent hike in CNG prices did slow down the penetration of gas-based vehicles, it still continues to be in very high demand. Of the 4 lakh units of pending bookings - about 25 percent to 30 percent of orders are for the CNG vehicles, said the top company official.

The company has already guided vendors for an output plan of close to half a million CNG powered vehicles in FY24 and the mid-hybrids and hybrids will be another 3-4 lakh units significantly moving towards 40 percent of its total sales.

Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer, sales and marketing at Maruti Suzuki says, “While the adoption of EVs with time will increase, the pace of that is constrained by the high acquisition costs and the lack of charging infrastructure leading to range anxiety. Till this inflection point of higher adoption of EVs is reached technologies like CNG, flex fuels, and hybrids will be necessary for the transition period.”        

In its mid-term plan, Maruti Suzuki had forecasted that 25 percent of its total sales would come from hybrid electric vehicles by 2030, almost 10 percentage points higher than the 15 percent share from zero-emission battery electric vehicles. The balance portfolio will have a significant contribution from CNG, ethanol flex-fuel, and biogas later in the decade.