SUV demand drives up Maruti Suzuki's profit by 80 per cent

India's leading passenger vehicle manufacturer Maruti Suzuki has reported about 80 per cent hike in profit in the last three months. Beating estimated Maruti Suzuki clocked ₹3,717 crore profit between July and September, improving its profit margin of ₹2,062 crore recorded in the same quarter last year. The carmaker attributed its hug jump in profit due to rise in demand for its sport utility vehicles (SUVs) like Brezza, Grand Vitara, Fronx and Jimny. Maruti also said cooling input costs have also helped to maximise its profit.

While SUVs helped Maruti Suzuki largely to increase its profits, its utility vehicles like Ertiga. XL6 and Invicto MPVS also contributed to a large extent. Overall, Maruti Suzuki's SUVs and MPVs contributed 32 per cent of sales by the carmaker in the past three months. The segment alone has seen a rise in sales by about 16 per cent and a jump of 25 per cent in revenue compared to the third quarter of 2022.

Maruti Suzuki currently leads the SUV segment in India with new-age models introduced in the past one year or so. Models like Grand Vitara and Fronx, which feature as some of India's top-selling models, have added to Maruti's tally led by sub-compact SUV Brezza as well as the latest entrant Jimny five-door off-road SUV. The sports utility vehicles currently hold around 57 per cent of the market share in the four-wheel passenger vehicle segment. With more than 3 lakh utility vehicles sold in the first half of this year, Maruti Suzuki commands a market share of more than 25 per cent.

Watch: Maruti Suzuki Fronx SUV First Drive Review

One of the biggest reasons behind Maruti Suzuki's successful SUV offensive has been the Grand Vitara compact SUV. Maruti Suzuki has so far sold over 1.20 lakh units of the Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos rival. It is the quickest model among its compatriots to one lakh sales mark. Grand Vitara was launched at a starting price of ₹10.70 lakh (ex-showroom). Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, said, “Nexa is now the second largest brand, behind Maruti Suzuki. And the Grand Vitara has also further helped fellow models like Jimny and Brezza."

In September, the month ahead of the festive season, Maruti Suzuki saw its utility vehicles clock 82 per cent rise in sales with 59,271 units delivered across the country.