The country’s largest carmaker has taken nearly a year from the time it unveiled its first electric vehicle, the Maruti Suzuki eVitara, to when it finally began leaving showrooms. In its first full month of sales (March 2026), the Maruti Suzuki eVitara has seen just about 2,000 cars leave showrooms in India, while the company has exported over 21,000 eVitara models since production began in Hansalpur, Gujarat, in August.
At a time of uncertainty over fuel prices due to the conflict in West Asia, one would expect the company to push sales of electric vehicles. However, Maruti faces a production constraint on the eVitara, as it must balance domestic demand with export commitments.
This capacity constraint will likely continue until July 2026, when it expects to add 2.5 lakh units of capacity at its Hansalpur plant. It can allocate only about 2,000 units a month for domestic sales. The eVitara is priced between Rs 15.99 lakh and Rs 20.01 lakh ex-showroom. It is also available with a Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) scheme, which drops its sticker price to Rs 10.99 lakh, with battery rental at Rs 3.99 per km for the base model.
Why EV sales are slow
However, that’s not the only reason it is going slow on domestic sales. Speaking to FE on the sidelines of its sales numbers announcement, Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki India, said that charging infrastructure, especially for home charging, is also a factor.
Banerjee said that while there are more than 2,000 enquiries for the eVitara every month, customers first need to upgrade their home electrical connection to handle a 7.4 kW AC fast charger. A typical home usually has a sanctioned load of less than 6 kW.
The eVitara comes with a 7.4 kW AC fast charger that must be installed at a customer’s home. It can fully charge the car in about 6-10 hours. It also comes with a 3.3 kW portable charger (with a standard 15-amp plug), but it would take more than twice as long to charge the car. To safely operate a 7.4 kW home AC charger along with other normal home appliances load, a customer will need a sanctioned load from the electricity board of about 8kW to 10kW, and a dedicated parking space for the car.
To ensure customers still have alternative charging options, Maruti is offering free charging at its dealerships to eVitara customers for the first year. However, Maruti dealers at the moment only offer charging facilities to Maruti Suzuki cars, unlike other car manufacturers, which are open to sharing their network across multiple car brands, to help increase the charging network infrastructure in the country.
As another safeguard against rising fuel prices, when asked if strong hybrid models (petrol + electric) would be a better choice, as the company offers three strong hybrid models – the Grand Vitara, Victoris and Invicto – Banerjee said that customers have actually preferred CNG-powered models instead. He pointed out that for the Victoris compact SUV, nearly 40% of bookings are for the variants with the underbody CNG kit.
Maruti sales up 8.4%, exports jump 34%
For the full year, Maruti has seen total sales, including exports, increase by 8.4% year-on-year, from 22,34,266 units in 2024-25 to 24,22,713 units in 2025-26. Exports have jumped 34% from 3,32,585 units in 2024-25 to 4,47,774 units in 2025-26. Comparing March 2025 to March 2026 sales, sales are up 16.7%, from 192,984 units to 2,25,251 units.
The company says that lower GST on small cars, lower repo rate and revised income tax slabs have helped drive growth in the overall passenger car market, which is expected to close FY26 with over 47 lakh units sold, up from 43.4 lakh units the previous year.
