Representational
Maruti Suzuki is working on a mass-market battery electric vehicle priced below Rs. 10 lakh. The upcoming EV is expected to sit below the e Vitara in the company’s line-up and could take on the Tata Tiago EV and Hyundai’s upcoming affordable electric car. The move would also give Maruti a much-needed product in the entry-level EV space.
The positioning is particularly interesting. Maruti’s first EV, the e Vitara, is a much larger SUV and is aimed at a completely different customer. A sub Rs. 10 lakh electric car would instead target buyers who are currently considering small petrol hatchbacks or making the jump directly from a two-wheeler. This is also the part of the EV market where upfront pricing remains one of the biggest barriers to adoption.
Tata already has a head start here. The recently updated Tiago EV continues to offer an affordable entry point into electric motoring, with Tata also using its Battery-as-a-Service model to reduce the initial purchase price further. Hyundai, meanwhile, is also preparing a compact EV based on its global Inster, with the model expected to help the company enter the more affordable end of India’s EV market.
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Maruti hasn’t revealed the name, body style or technical specifications of this upcoming model. However, the focus is clearly on affordability and mass-market adoption, rather than performance or a long list of premium features. The car could therefore be a small hatchback or compact crossover designed primarily for urban use. A relatively small battery would help keep costs under control, while a practical real-world range of around 200-300 km could make sense for buyers who use the car mainly for city commutes. These are expectations, not confirmed specifications.
Maruti is also likely to make extensive use of localisation to keep the price competitive. The company’s broader EV strategy involves developing a supply chain around batteries, motors and other electric vehicle components in India, which should become increasingly important as it moves into lower price segments.
Also Read: New Maruti Suzuki Baleno Launched At Rs. 6.09 Lakh
This could be the Maruti EV that really matters. The e Vitara gets the company into the electric SUV game, but a sub Rs 10 lakh car could take the EV proposition to a completely different audience. Maruti has the manufacturing scale, a massive sales network and decades of experience with small cars. If it can combine those strengths with a genuinely affordable electric powertrain, Tata’s head start in this segment may finally come under serious pressure.
