One in every three vehicles we sell is now a CNG vehicle, says Maruti Suzuki

Maruti Suzuki said that in August, the company sold 49,602 units of CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) vehicles, marking a growth of 37% as compared to August 2023. The company already commands over 73% of the CNG market and plans to continue pushing CNG sales across its extensive product range, from the Alto hatchback to the Grand Vitara SUV.

“In the month of August, our CNG penetration was close to 34%. So, we have been able to touch the mark that one in every three vehicles we sold was a CNG model,” Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer of Marketing & Sales at Maruti Suzuki India Limited, said.

The company has close to 1,65,000 bookings across all models. He said that the models that are driving the growth in the CNG segment are Ertiga, Brezza, and the Dzire. The company has 14 models in its portfolio with CNG variants. “We have grown by the 28% since April to August. Our numbers are going up month after month. In the month of August, we have almost touched 50,000. Our major focus is now on all the models and to cater to the customer based on their business needs,” he adds.

He added that the company wants to further move it down to more and more towns where CNG is available and aims to create an awareness among the customers about CNG as a greener and cleaner alternative fuel option. “The running cost of CNG is as good as any other model and, it comes with the Maruti's warranty of three years and one lakh kilometers,” he adds.

With rising fuel costs for petrol and diesel, demand for CNG vehicles has surged in recent years. Maruti Suzuki dominates the Indian CNG market, both in sales and model offerings, and was the first major OEM in India to adopt CNG technology. As part of its strategy to reduce its carbon footprint, Maruti Suzuki aims to sell over 6 lakh CNG vehicles in FY25, matching the entire market's CNG sales in FY24. Achieving this target would represent a 30% increase from the 4.5 lakh units sold by Maruti in FY24.

Currently, Maruti offers CNG variants in models like the Alto, S-Presso, Celerio, WagonR, Baleno, Fronx, and Brezza. The new-gen Swift may also receive a CNG variant soon.