Maruti Suzuki has been at the top of the automotive industry and it is thanks to the small cars that have been produced for years. However, in the company’s financial results, the company expressed concern about the shrinking of the small car market. Now, to only give you a perspective on what is the meaning of a small car, we talk about the beginner level segment where hatchbacks such as Alto, S-President, Swift have made a significant impact. However, there has been a 25 percent decrease in the market in the last 4 years. Speaking to the media during the announcement of financial results, RC Bhargava, chairman, Maruti Suzuki, “In FY18-19, sales in the hatchback segment are 15.5 lakh units, but now at FY21-22, it has shrunk to 11.5 Lakh Lakh and Lakh Unit Lakh and That means a big reduction in 4 lakh in only 4 years and it is very large and that certainly hurts Maruti Suzuki. “

Declining consumer interest in the small car segment has reached the volume of Maruti Suzuki. The segment has shrunk with 4 lakh units in just the last four years.

During the same period, the SUV segment showed good growth, but not significant. Bhargava said that the SUV segment had developed from 18 lakh units to 19 lakh units during the same period for 4 years and even though it was growth, it was only 6 percent growth and it was marginal. The sedan segment has also dropped and this is the reason why the company changed its investment to ensure that it was present in this segment, where there were more requests and that was why we would see more SUVs entering the market from Maruti Suzuki. Will we see Jimny going to India? Is there a rival Creta/Seltos/Astor in manufacturing?

Well, none of these questions are answered by the company as said, “We do not discuss our future plans for future products” but yes, there will be more SUVs in the company’s portfolio going forward. And the company needs it because, if you look at the company’s market share during FY21-22, without SUV contributions, Maruti Suzuki brags about the 65 percent market share, when counting SUVs, which basically means overall market share, standing at 43.4 percent. Clearly Maruti Suzuki lost a large piece of cake, which is planned to improve in the coming financial year.