Maruti Suzuki is one of the biggest carmakers in India, and it continues to offer many popular car models in the country. Despite a slow down in the auto sector, there is a huge demand for Maruti cars. However, the company did not appear to be able to fulfill the orders. According to ACI, it currently has a backlog of around 3,25,000 tasks. 40 percent of these bookings are CNG-powered vehicles (around 1,29,000 units). Let’s take a closer look at this issue.
Maruti Suzuki has launched multiple models in the last few months. The company also plans to introduce an all-new Brezza SUV and an all-new Creta this year. By late 2022, a brand new Alto may also hit the market. The company sees a surge in demand for CNG cars, thanks to increasing the growing number of CNG pumps. However, Maruti Suzuki needs to fix the issue of pending orders faster than the future orders.
Nevertheless, the increase in CNG sales is great news for Maruti. It sold 2,64,000 units in this fiscal year (up from 1,62,000 units). The company offers CNG options on nine of its 15 models. This includes the likes of Alto, S-Presso, Celerio, Eeco, and Dzire. Maruti Suzuki also plans to offer CNG versions of its premium models like the Baleno and CNG. However, it is to be noted that the CNG price has also significantly increased this year. It now retails at Rs 71.61/kg and Rs 76/kg in Delhi and Mumbai, respectively.
“CNG is doing very good numbers for MSIL, and almost 17 percent of our portfolio’s sales are being contributed by CNG variants. In the models, where we have a CNG option, the contribution is about 33 percent,” said Shashank Srivastava, senior ED, Marketing & Sales, MSIL. “Diesel has dropped from contributing 58 percent of the total industry PV volumes about five to six years ago, to 18 percent in FY22. For Maruti Suzuki, CNG is filling that gap rather quickly, despite it being available only in nine Maruti models,” he added.