The auto industry must operate at full pace to reach 5.5–5.6 million vehicles by 2030, with electric vehicles accounting for 13–15 per cent of sales, as EV penetration has declined after the GST 2.0-altered market dynamics, a senior Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) official said.
“After the introduction of GST 2.0, I think we are reassessing the market. But this is not the most opportune time to do that as there is pent-up demand (of all vehicles). Once things cool down, we need to see the trend. We will need to analyse the market at the time, maybe in the next two or three months,” Senior Executive Officer, Marketing & Sales, MSIL told reporters here.
The government aims to have 30 per cent share for EVs of the overall passenger vehicle sales. Currently, the passenger EV market is growing around 3 per cent as of FY25, with sales crossing one lakh units.
Speaking about adoption of EVs in India, he said that customers are still sceptical about owning an EV right now. This is especially true for first time buyers because of their perception of the EV ecosystem, including charging infrastructure. Customers are not confident of home-charging infrastructure as some resident welfare associations (RWA)s don’t allow in-building chargers. Besides, supply from the grid is not stable.
“We believe that the customer is not confident (about EVs). The experiences from initial products that were launched have created a huge amount of negativity in the minds of people regarding the driving range,” he said.
Even now, most customers buying the EVs are using it as a secondary vehicle, he added.
“It’s not their primary car. Because of the inadequacy of the public infrastructure, the buyer doesn’t want to take a chance. So, if he wants to buy his first vehicle, it has to be ICE (internal combustion engine) or some other vehicle (like CNG),” he said.
He added that by FY30, MSIL plans to launch five EV models in its overall product portfolio. The company will soon launch its first EV – the eVitara. For this, it is tying up with charging infrastructure companies and aims to install one lakh such charging infrastructure.
