Maruti Suzuki's EV push: Carmaker plans to sell eVitara from 500 Nexa showrooms by January

India’s biggest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd plans to sell the e-Vitara, the automaker’s maiden electric vehicle, from 500 Nexa retail outlets by January.

“EVs are being dispatched to channel partners. We are going to start the test drives beginning next month,” says Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki. "We are planning to make the eVitara available at 500 Nexa showrooms by January," Banerjee adds.

Maruti Suzuki has around 700 Nexa touch points.

As the carmaker gears up to launch the eVitara, Maruti Suzuki has set up 2,000 EV charging points exclusively for its customers. “We have set up 1,500 EV-enabled workshops across 1100 cities,” says Banerjee.

Maruti Suzuki’s entry to the EV race comes at a time when the penetration of electric vehicles has gone down following the Goods and Services Tax (GST) reduction on internal-combustion engine (ICE) cars. While the EV penetration rose marginally from 3.3% in October 2025 to 3.8% in November 2025, it stayed below the 5% mark hit in July this year.

“After the introduction of GST 2.0, the penetration of EVs is going down. The EV industry is not keeping pace with the auto industry,” Banerjee says. “By 2030, the car industry will be around 5.5-6 million vehicles per annum. And the EV penetration forecast earlier was around 13-15%. But that was before GST 2.0. We need to reassess the market to arrive at the penetration levels in 2030.”

The penetration of electric vehicles will grow only when people consider it as their primary car, Banerjee believes. “About 99% of customers who buy an EV use it as a secondary car. It’s not the primary car.”

The problem, according to Banerjee, lies in three key things. “In past, customers have raised their concern that the range which is being promised is not delivered and that creates a huge problem for them when they do inter-city rides,” he claims. “Range anxiety has created a huge amount of negativity in the minds of EV buyers.” Inadequacy of the public charging infrastructure and lack of residual value are the other concerns.

Maruti Suzuki aims to address the resale value barrier by offering its EV with a battery-as-a-service model. “In an EV, the battery cost is close to 40%,” he says.

“We are trying to instil the confidence in customers before they go for an electric vehicle,” he says. “We are also going to have an assured buyback scheme.”

On localisation of the battery, Banerjee says, “Right now our battery is imported, but the plan for phased manufacturing localisation is very much on the cards.”