‘India goes electric’ was the big tag — even if the first electric car in India came out seven years ago (and if you take the Reva, more than two decades ago!). But it does carry a resonance when it’s the nation’s biggest carmaker that is also jumping onto the electric bandwagon — finally.
Maruti Suzuki walked the talk it made at the Auto Expo back in 2023 with its first concept model, followed by the full-scale car at the Bharat Mobility Expo earlier this year —the e-Vitara, a play on the premium Grand Vitara model in Maruti’s Nexa range. The symbolism of launching its first electric car in Gurugram (Gurgaon) wasn’t lost on anyone either, considering that the car is made at Suzuki’s new plant in Gujarat — Gurgaon is, after all, the town that Maruti made, where its first car, the 800, rolled out more than four decades ago, and ushered in the automobile revolution in India.
The e-Vitara is estimated to be priced between ₹17 lakh to ₹22 lakh, and offers a certified range of 543 km on one charge. It comes with a 5-star safety rating as per Bharat NCAP, with bookings starting on and deliveries from the new year. It’s Maruti’s first, and its big bet on the increasing electrification of the market, — though electric four-wheelers still form just about five per cent of the total four-wheeler sales in the market, it is still one showing increasing growth, with most of its rivals already out there with a plethora of models.
“Even if it takes time, we take time in testing and planning …to ensure the domain ecosystem is ready,” said Hisashi Takeuchi, MD & CEO of Maruti Suzuki, as if justifying the delay of the market leader in getting into the electric segment.
Of course, Maruti realises it’s late to the game, and is leaving nothing to chance. That includes more than 2,000 charging points of Maruti alone (plus 13 charge point operators like Adani, Reliance, Shell, Tata Mobility etc) across some 1,100 towns and cities across the country, as well as 1,500 EV-ready workshops and trained personnel across Maruti’s service network.
But why Maruti Suzuki took this while to come up with its first electric model is a tale seeped in history — of nations as well as technology. For the longest time, Japanese car companies like Toyota and Honda, which ruled the roost in the internal combustion engine (ICE) technology of traditional motor cars, did not focus much on electric car technology when it started.
The Jap reticence emanated equally from their strong performance and track record with hybrid technology, as well as the range anxiety and reliable supply chains (read: the concern about bête noire Chinese and their dominance of the EV market as well as supply chains).
The Japanese argument, spearheaded by Maruti in India, was two-fold: one, the medium doesn’t matter as long as the vehicle is less polluting; after all, there is no assurance that the electricity that goes into charging EVs presently in India is clean anyway, considering that India’s electricity primarily comes from thermal energy. And secondly, there may just be more scope in hydrogen fuel cells as a future tech.
Maruti Suzuki executive committee member Shashank Srivastava said as much to THE WEEK some time ago when he observed, “EVs are not the only route to achieve zero carbon emission norms, but it could also be cleaner fuels like CNG or biofuel….as long as you achieve those emission targets by deploying any technology, whether it is EVs or hydrogen, it works.”
But for now at least, it’s the electric bandwagon that Maruti needs to get on, and the auto behemoth intends to do that with gusto — nothing short of market leadership will do.
“Let me assure you, we will be the market leader in the electric segment,” Takeuchi declared, the company’s strategy being a carpet coverage of charging stations and service stations across the country, capitalising on the company’s extensive network across India. Maybe the tagline might as well be prophetic.