Maruti Suzuki: Making 6 airbags mandatory will hit small car sales

While the Central Government is working on bringing a proposal to make six airbags mandatory in all passenger vehicles, including the entry-level compact ones, Maruti Suzuki has different intentions. India’s largest carmaker wants the government to reconsider this proposal keeping in mind the possible slowdown in the sales of compact cars because of this move.

Maruti Suzuki believes that the small car market is already facing a slowdown due to rising costs because of multiple reasons. Thus, the inclusion of mandatory side and curtain airbags will only add to these reasons, thereby increasing the costs of the small cars even further. The carmaker feels that this slowdown in the sales of compact cars will have many adverse effects, including loss of jobs in the auto sector and difficulty for two-wheeler owners in upgrading to four-wheelers.

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According to RC Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, the prices of entry-level cars in India have already risen alarmingly due to implications of BS6 emission norms, new safety regulations and rising input costs in the recent years. While the sales of entry-level cars have already taken a massive hit in bigger cities, the potential car buyers in non-metro markets like smaller towns and rural regions have also started feeling the heat.

6 airbags will make cars expensive

Bhargava believes that the enforcement of six airbags in passenger cars will make the market of small cars even smaller – a category which has helped Maruti Suzuki gain the chunk of market share it enjoys even today.

He added that the automotive market in India has already taken a few hits in recent times, and this decision will only come as an additional burden in the form of job losses and economic slowdown. He urges the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to reconsider this matter to prevent any further discouragement in the form of losses.

In the early-2022, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways introduced a new proposal to make side six airbags a mandatory safety feature in all passenger vehicles with a seating capacity of up to 8 people.

New proposal from 2022 October

The proposal is said to be imposed across India from October 2022. While dual front airbags were made compulsory from January 2022, the side and curtain airbags will become mandatory from October 2022. Due to this decision, the entry-level cars might witness a price hike of Rs 20,000-25,000 across variants.

Maruti Suzuki has an extensive lineup of entry-level offerings and compact cars in its lineup, including Alto, S-Presso, Eeco, WagonR, Celerio, Swift, Dzire and Baleno. These models have been instrumental in keeping Maruti Suzuki the carmaker with the highest sales every month.

The decision of making six airbags mandatory will definitely increase the prices of these popular models, which contribute around 70 per cent of its total sales every month. These models have already started receiving tough challenges like the shift of people towards bigger compact and midsize SUVs from rival brands like Hyundai, Tata, Kia and Mahindra.

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