Mar 13 2024, 07:59
5-door Mahindra Thar,Tata Curvy, Maruti eVX - and a wave of 20,000-plus buyers:
A host of SUVs will be launched this year. In a market where consumers are now willing to pay more but want modern features, what are carmakers doing to keep the SUV story going?
A quick enquiry into what's prompting this cheerfulness, and you have a three-letter answer - SUV.
For, the utility vehicle segment grew 24.79% in FY24 till January over the same period last year, commanding a 59.03% share in the total passenger vehicle market, according to industry body SIAM.
The SUV market will see a lot of action this year, too, as carmakers push the envelope.
Rajeev Singh, partner and consumer industry leader at Deloitte Asia Pacific, expects the SUV market to continue to see growth not just in volumes, but also in price points. "Today, most of the SUVs are in the INR10 lakh to INR20 lakh price bracket. But going forward, automakers will be slicing this market at every INR2 lakh in the INR20 lakh to INR25 lakh price range, which has lower product options," he says.
Consumers are now willing to pay more than ever before but they want their SUVs to be modern as well.
Take Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) for example.
The company launched the new Thar in August 2020. This changed M&M's brand image from a manufacturer of rugged SUVs to one that can also make lifestyle vehicles with modern features.
Now Mahindra is all set to follow up the three-door Thar's success (it crossed monthly sales of 6,000 units in January) with a five-door avatar. Expected in the first quarter of the next fiscal, it is likely to rustle up the excitement in the SUV market.
A dealer says the five-door Thar is expected to log monthly sales of 3,000 units to begin with, or 50% of the three-door version. The five-door Thar is expected to cost around INR15 lakh for the base variant.
Veejay Nakra, president, automotive division, M&M, tells ET Prime that the company had a successful extension of the Thar brand with the launch of a rear-wheel drive variant in January 2023. With this, a new base of consumers came in for the company. "With the five- door Thar, we plan to similarly broaden our customer base and take the brand to new customer segments. We have already announced that the five-door Thar will have a separate [production] capacity that will kick in when we are ready for its launch sometime in the middle of the calendar year."
At present, the Mahindra Thar is popular among young driving enthusiasts. "The existing three-door Thar can seat comfortably two adults and two children," says Puneet Gupta, director, automotive, S&P Global Mobility, adding, that the Thar brand "will get a fresh push with new demand coming from a different set of customers, as it will offer a more practical five-door option." He, however, expects the three-door Thar sales to be dented by 50% as consumers will prefer a five-door edition unless it is much more expensive than the present
Thar.
source:et
Mar 13 2024, 11:26
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