With the ongoing revolution of electric vehicles, India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki has allegedly shelved its plans of launching its Maruti Suzuki WagonR EV.
The WagonR EV was the Japanese carmaker’s first electric vehicle to be launched, a prototype of which was even showcased by the automaker at the MOVE Mobility summit back in September 2018.
Maruti Suzuki WagonR Electric Vehicle
The budget friendly WagonR series by Maruti Suzuki had works going to be launched as a battery-electric model by 2020.
The battery-powered model was to be the carmaker’s first electric vehicle and it had showcased a prototype of the same in September 2018, at the MOVE Mobility summit.
The road testing of the WagonR Electric Vehicle had started by Oct 2018, giving everyone the impression that Maruti Suzuki would launch the EV soon in the markets, giving the country’s largest carmaker a head start early on in the EV competition.
However, the electric vehicle never made an official debut in the markets.
WagonR EV: A Flop Show
In the MOVE Mobility summit in 2018, Suzuki Motor Corporation’s Chairman and COO, Osamu Suzuki had announced that they would launch the WagonR EV in markets in 2020, however, a trusted source has confirmed that Maruti Suzuki has shelved the plans of launching the electric vehicle.
The company had shown a prototype of the model in 2018, and even in late 2020, the EV was spotted on road testing.
However, the model was never launched in 2020.
This is because there was no business case for a battery-powered WagonR, which would have had to be priced around 60 percent higher than the petrol equivalent for it to be profitable, added the source report.
Anything more than Rs 10 lakh, would not garner sales for the WagonR EV, rightfully so, as the company had itself led to apprehensions about its sales volumes.
Besides, late in 2021, the company’s MD and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa informed that Maruti Suzuki will launch its first electric vehicle by 2025, and it would be an electric midsize SUV, which is alleged to be larger than the renowned Hyundai Creta.