Maruti Suzuki’s Super Carry gains traction

Maruti Suzuki, which had forayed into the commercial vehicle segment with the launch of the Super Carry in September 2016 with a pilot in the three cities of Ludhiana, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, has announced it has reached the milestone of 200 outlets which are selling this vehicle in more than 165 cities. While the Super Carry was slow in gaining sales traction in the initial few months, riding on the company’s USP of affordability, quality after-sales and mass-market appeal, it has managed to establish a foothold in the light commercial vehicle (LCV) space in 2017-18, selling more than 10,000 units.

In fact, since its launch in September 2016, the company has sold over 12,400 units of this LCV—with April 2018 sales of 1,544 units the highest in a single month. According to the company, the reasons for its gradual rising popularity are “extensive test drives and strategic key customer engagements, such as distributors meet, nukkad natak (street presentations), float activities, exchange melas and mechanic melas.”

In addition, what appears to be working for this LCV is its versatility—there are a claimed over 250 unique applications of the Super Carry in FMCG, agriculture, furniture, hardware business, etc. The Super Carry is powered by a 793cc turbocharged diesel engine which generates 32bhp of maximum output and produces 75Nm of torque (pulling power) at a low 2000rpm.

The vehicle, which has a five-speed manual transmission and a car-like gear-shift, delivers a claimed fuel efficiency of 22.07kpl and has a maximum speed of 80kph. The Super Carry complies with BS-IV emission norms. Its payload capacity is 740kg, its broader wheelbase of 2110mm provides good stability even with heavy loads, and its small turning radius of 4.3 metres ensures easy manoeuvring in narrow lanes. However, in the Indian LCV segment, Maruti Suzuki is still a niche player. The market is dominated by Tata Motors and Mahindra. Tata Ace is by far the largest-selling vehicle in its segment, followed by others such as Mahindra Jeeto.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited