Entry-level cars like Celerio, WagonR and the Alto K10 have received close to 80,000 bookings with a growth of almost 70%, says Partho Banerjee.
| Photo Credit: BIJOY GHOSH
Passenger car market leader Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. is seeing unprecedented demand for entry-level cars post the GST cut, as two-wheeler owners are increasingly making a beeline to own a car, Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer – Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki Ltd., said in an interview.
In the four weeks since a cut in the GST was announced, the company had received bookings of 4 lakh cars and delivered 2,50,000 cars, he said.
The company’s factories are working even on Sundays to meet demand, the executive said adding the bookings at the rate of one lakh cars per week will continue till end of Diwali festival and hopefully there after, the executive said.
“In the last 4 weeks, we have received 4 lakh bookings. On average every week we have received 1 lakh bookings which is the highest ever for any festival period. Another interesting fact is for our entry-level cars like Celerio, WagonR and the Alto K10, we have received close to 80,000 booking with a growth of almost 70%,” he said.
“In our total retail business, which we are doing in the pre-GST period, the contribution of this entry-level car was 16.7% but post-GST now, that has moved to 22.2%. There is a huge jump in the contribution of these entry-level cars, and what we are seeing in our showroom is that plenty of helmets are now there on our discussion tables in our showroom (indicating the presence of two-wheeler owners),” he said.
“So a new set of customers are coming in two-wheelers and they are booking the entry level cars and in this 4-week period we have already retailed close to 2,50,000 vehicles which is highest ever for any festival period,” he said
He said car penetration will only increase when two-wheelers owner start upgrading to four wheelers.
“The traction is good across all the segments but if I go by the definition of the GST 2.0 small cars mean vehicles, which are right now attracting a GST of 18%, the bookings and the growth is much higher compared with the vehicles which fall in the 40% category,” Mr Banerjee said.
“But, in the 40% category also, there is a demand. Right now, we are working on Sundays also to meet the market requirement but this happens to be pent-up demand because many customers who wanted to buy the car in August they have withheld buying decisions, so they were not coming to the market,” he added.
Published – October 14, 2025 09:17 pm IST
