Maruti Suzuki India gathers pace in light commercial vehicle segment

New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) is quietly gaining presence in the light commercial vehicle (LCV) space with its Super Carry mini-truck registering over ten-fold jump in sales in 2017-18.

The company, which launched Super Carry in September 2016, sold 10,033 units of the model in the fiscal ended March 31, 2018, as against just 900 units in 2016-17.

MSI had taken a slow and steady approach in terms of expanding in the 700 kg payload mini truck segment, where it competes with Tata Ace, M&M Supro and Piaggio Porter.

Starting LCV sales in 2016 in select cities, the company has expanded across the country to over 190 sales outlets at the end of March 2018, a spokesperson of MSI said.

"This pan India spread of sales network in 159 cities, combined with excellent product response helped us sell an average of over 1,000 units a month in the past 6 months," the spokesperson said, adding that positive feedback from customers also helped in higher volumes of sales.

In the beginning of this year, Super Carry was available in 162 new commercial outlets in 140 cities in 25 states. When the vehicle was launched in 2016, MSI had started with three cities -- Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Ludhiana.

Earlier this year, the company said it planned to be present across India at all potential locations with an aim to be a significant player in the segment in future.

MSI, however, has a long way to catch up with segment leader Tata Motors, which sold 14,286 units of ACE range of mini trucks in March alone. In contrast, MSI sold 1,412 units of the Super Carry in the same month.

Apart from selling the mini truck in India, the company also exports the vehicle to select African nations such as South Africa and Tanzania.

Launching of Super Carry LCV in India was part of MSI's original agreement with parent Suzuki in 1982 but it was shelved due to poor response from the market at that time.