After shying away for long, India’s biggest automobile company finally embraced electric mobility with gusto. Maruti Suzuki unveiled the eVitara, the first from the Japanese auto giant, which aims to manufacture the electric SUV at its Gujarat plant not just for India, but for global markets, including Japan.
The eVitara is expected to hit the roads in the first half of this year, though Maruti has not yet given a specific date.
“We intend to make BEVs (battery electric vehicles) attractive to customers through a three-pronged strategy—develop a dedicated platform, the right product for the market and third, leverage our global economics of scale,” said Suzuki Motor Corporation’s global president and representative director Toshihiro Suzuki.
Suzuki, as well as most other Japanese players, had resisted jumping onto the electric bandwagon for long, especially considering beta noire China’s lead and dominance in the sector. There are multiple pathways to clean mobility, and electricity is just one of them. This has long been the argument of the Japanese brigade, as they experimented with anything from hybrid to hydrogen fuel cells and even cleaner diesel.
But now with electric virtually becoming mainstream, Suzuki and co have finally decided to cognise the writing on the wall.
From the launch of the Maruti Suzuki eVitara | Sanjay Ahlawat
The eVitara is claimed to have up to 500 km range, with the company offering home chargers as well as setting up an ecosystem ranging from charging stations, service centres covering a major chunk of the Indian mainland and roadside assistance.
The car interiors also come with unique features like seven airbags, the seventh coming in to protect the knees of the driver. The car (and battery) has been tested for extreme temperatures, from ‘sand to snow’, according to Maruti officials.
The eVitara is built on Maruti Suzuki’s brand-new platform for electric vehicles, called HEARTECT-e. In fact, Maruti India MD Hisashi Takeuchi quipped how this electric car is more robust as it is on a brand new pure electric platform, compared to others who may be on retrofitted platforms that were originally developed for combustion engine cars.
