To make a strong comeback in the SUV space and regain lost market share, Maruti Suzuki India, the country’s largest car maker, is preparing for an aggressive nine-product onslaught in the next three years, with seven of them being SUVs.
The automaker has set a target of manufacturing 2.82 million vehicles in the financial year 2027, representing an aggressive 22% growth from the previous year, according to sources familiar with the company’s production plans.
The company has projected industry sales growth of more than 10% in the current financial year and expects to outpace the broader market despite supply-chain disruptions and cost pressures stemming from the conflict in West Asia.
Yet, Maruti Suzuki is betting big on sustained demand in India's passenger vehicle market. The planned output would mark one of the sharpest annual production increases in recent years on a high base.
In FY26, the automaker manufactured 2.31 million vehicles, accounting for around 42% of total PV production in India. The company had raised production by nearly 12% during the year, dispatching over 1.82 million units in the domestic market while exporting 443,825 vehicles.
While the recently announced price hikes will reduce some benefits accrued from lower GST rates and weigh on affordability, the company believes there is still headroom to grow and sustained demand in the marketplace.
Maruti Suzuki’s confidence to outpace the overall passenger vehicle market comes on the back of freshly installed capacity that is allowing the company to cater to high demand amid low channel stocks.
The company has also been able to ramp up output for small cars, which it claims have come back in demand post the recent GST cut. This has helped the company regain about 300-400 basis points of market share in the monthly sales this financial year.
What is noteworthy is that Maruti Suzuki is looking at almost equal volumes of SUVs and hatchbacks in the current financial year. The company expects to produce more than 1 million SUVs and close to 1 million hatchbacks in the current financial year, with MPVs and sedans largely accounting for the balance.
While in the current year, the focus will be on rolling out a facelift of some of its existing models, the major all-new product onslaught begins from the next financial year, which is expected to help the company accelerate its volumes and growth momentum in a highly competitive Indian car market.
The production planning for this year is centred on high-volume models including the Fronx, Baleno, Ertiga, Grand Vitara, Swift and WagonR, sources said.
Sources also said that while the aim is to reinforce the multi-pathway direction in powertrains, the company will be launching its second EV - the MPV EV internally codenamed YMC based on the E-Vitara platform.
An email sent to Maruti Suzuki for comments did not elicit any response.