- Maruti Suzuki e Vitara will be the first electric car from the brand once it enters production and is launched later this year.
Maruti Suzuki e Vitara was one of the major crowd pullers at the recently concluded Auto Expo 2025 of Bharat Mobility Global Expo. Despite being a late entrant in the Indian electric passenger vehicle market, the carmaker aims top spot with the electric SUV and with the aim to grab pole position in the segment, Maruti Suzuki plans to boost supporting charging infrastructure for the e Vitara consumers.
While many other automakers who have launched their respective electric cars in India have focused on introducing their products first and then building a charging infrastructure for that or introducing both simultaneously, Maruti Suzuki aims to bolster charging infrastructure in the country first before it drives in the e Vitara. The carmaker plans to establish the upcoming electric SUV as a primary car in a household. The auto major also plans to boost after-sales support, bring in a leasing model and more finance options to encourage customers to buy the e Vitara. Maruti Suzuki is planning to have a 1,000 city-wide EV charging infrastructure network where it will be providing EV aftersales support in case someone is having an emergency.
Speaking about the company’s strategy for the electric SUV, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Senior Executive Officer (Marketing & Sales) Partho Banerjee told PTI that one of the major concerns for the EV customers is the adequacy of the public charging infrastructure. “So we are planning to have a fast charger at a frequency of 10 kilometres in the top 100 cities,” he said, further adding “We believe that the customer who will be buying the car will be moving out of the city as well so we want to make our e Vitara as the primary car, not the secondary car and to make it a primary car, it is very important to provide a good after-sales support.”
The auto company also plans to introduce a service on-wheel initiative to take care of breakdowns and to cater to technical issues in areas where after-sales support is not available. “We are going to have more than 300 such mobile units,” the key official stated.
Banerjee also said that currently top 100 cities in India account for almost 97 per cent of the total EV sales. The lack of availability of public EV charging infrastructure out of the major cities is one of the key reasons why the electric cars are seen as secondary vehicles mostly fit for city use. According to industry data, electric passenger vehicles in the country today are mostly bought as a second or third vehicle in a household. However, Maruti Suzuki aims to change that consumer perspective and wants to make e Vitara the primary car for buyers.
The target of providing charging infra and aftersales support in 1,000 cities across India is a key part of that strategy. “So this more or less covers the entire India. We want to make e Vitara as the primary car, then only the EV car penetration will go up,” Banerjee stated, while also adding, “We are planning to have an overall ecosystem before we launch it here. When we started 40 years back, we first created the infrastructure, and then we started selling the product. So this time, also our thought is that when we start selling the product, the ecosystem should be in place.” The company is also training manpower at its dealer network with soft skills to handle customer queries regarding EVs, he said.
Maruti Suzuki e Vitara is slated to enter product later this year at the automaker’s Gujarat plant. Besides targeting Indian buyers, the automaker will ship it to export markets around the world as well. In fact, the e Virtara will first be exported to a few key markets overseas before being put on sale in India.
Check out Upcoming EV Cars in India.
First Published Date: 10 Feb 2025, 08:09 AM IST
