Maruti Suzuki doesn’t expect EV to cannibalise CNG sales

Days after Maruti Suzuki announced that it will be launching an electric vehicle (EV) with more than 500 km of range, the country’s largest passenger vehicle manufacturer has launched the CNG variant of new the Swift, with a starting price of Rs 8.19 lakh.

Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer (Marketing & Sales), Maruti Suzuki India, said as the market leader, the company will remain technologically agonistic with a host of technologies such as EVs, hybrids, CNG, flex fuels and ethanol. 

Maruti Suzuki, however, doesn’t expect cannibalisation between EV and CNG sales even as it gears to launch first EV next year, according to Banerjee. 

“We are going to offer all technologies to our customers. We are going to be technologically agnostic. So in that regard an EV customer and CNG customers are very different profile of customers. CNG customer is looking for low total cost of ownership....But what we are seeing in the EVS and other technologies, there are people who want to contribute for the society in terms of the carbon emissions. They are looking to have the latest technology.

They are the early adapters. Their profiles are very different. I think we need to understand different technologies will have different set of target customers,” said Banerjee.

Similarly, for petrol and CNG models, the customers profiles are different, according to Banerjee, “The profile of the customers who go for the CNG variant and the petrol variant a little different. The customer who is looking for the driving experience, they go for the petrol variant, but the customer who is looking for a low cost of ownership and the running cost and are driving the vehicle more than 2000 kilometer per month, for them, the Swift CNG becomes a very good proposition,” said Banerjee.

He, however, expects some sort of cannibalisation between Swift Petrol model and the newly launched Swift CNG model. “The little bit of cannibalisation always happens. It’s not the watertight compartment at all,” said Banerjee.
The old generation Maruti Swift CNG accounts for 15% of total sales in Maruti's portfolio. After the company phased out diesel in 2020, CNG models has become the second-highest product portfolio even as the company focuses on other technologies such as hybrids. At present, CNG accounts for 33% of the total sales. The company has set a target of 6 lakh units of CNG sales in FY25.

“Last fiscal year, our CNG sales in the passenger vehicle category witnessed a 46.8% growth compared to Financial Year 2022-23 and registered a CAGR of around 28% since 2010,” said Banerjee.

Meanwhile, the company is also gearing up to launch its first electric vehicle in January next year. The automaker claims that the soon to be launched EV boasts a range of more than 500 km with a 60kwh battery.