EV mode has new Suzuki Grand Vitara hybrid owners confused. Here's why

The Grand Vitara SUV has just turned one year old and Maruti Suzuki says that it has now become the fastest mid-sized SUV in India to achieve the 1 lakh sales benchmark. With up to 1.2 lakh Grand Vitaras on Indian roads already, the success of the SUV, combined with the more recent launch of the Fronx and Jimny 4x4, has catapulted Maruti Suzuki to the top of the SUV market in India, a goal that the automaker had carved out at the launch of the Grand Vitara in 2022.Maruti Suzuki further expects to keep its lead in the SUV market through December 2023 without much hassle and has recently captured 15 percent overall market share with its Nexa brand. With that, Maruti Suzuki Arena and Nexa are now the top two carmakers in the country with Hyundai India behind by a good margin.

TOI Auto recently got in touch with, Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Director (Marketing & Sales), Maruti Suzuki India Limited, to discuss the Grand Vitara’s success. Now that over 1 lakh vehicles are on the road, how have Maruti Suzuki customers responded to the hybrid tech and a premium SUV which sits between the Rs 10 to Rs 20 lakh price bracket.
Srivastava lightheartedly told TOI Auto, that there was in fact one teething issue that customers of the Grand Vitara were facing, “First is a little bit funny, which is that many people are unable to identify when the hybrid Grand Vitara has turned on. They keep pushing the engine start/stop button because they feel that the car is not turned on when actually it is. Due to it being on EV mode on startup, our first-time customers do not realise that the vehicle is ready to go.”

Well, that is certainly a plausible confusion that many first-time hybrid users may be having and we at TOI Auto can relate with the folks, as we have seen people taking some time to adapt to electrified vehicles. However, a quick look at the instrument cluster and the readings are usually a good way to identify when a hybrid vehicle is on or off, just takes a little getting used to.
Srivastava further told TOI Auto, “Our customers have otherwise found the hybrid technology great because first they are getting great mileage and secondly some customers have reported getting a higher mileage than the ARAI certified 27.97 kmpl. Further customers are happy with the fact that they are not spending money on charging as the car charges itself, however, many customers have asked us to close the gap between the price of the petrol-only and strong hybrid Grand Vitara. While the current level of GST imposed on EVs is 5 percent, strong hybrids are not included in that and still falls under the 43 percent tax category, including Cess.”

The Grand Vitara strong hybrid currently makes up for 22 to 23 percent of the SUV’s overall demand and another shift that Maruti Suzuki is reporting, is towards the CNG model. Demand for the Grand Vitara CNG has risen from 9 percent to 14 percent over the past few months. The balance 63 percent of demand is still covered by the petrol-only Grand Vitara.