Leader as challenger: What does Maruti's EV onslaught mean for Tata Motors?

"We will have at least six models and will start from the premium end, maybe with a sports utility vehicle," says R C Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki India

At Maruti Suzuki India’s annual general meeting in August 2021, shareholders wanted to know the company’s plans for the electric vehicles (EV) market. R C Bhargava, the chairman, said India’s largest passenger vehicles maker would enter EVs when it was “feasible to sell them in reasonable numbers” without “making losses”.

At that time, three companies had already entered the fray. Was Maruti going to drag its feet on EVs just as it had on the question of ad­opting diesel as a fuel and launching sports utility vehicles (SUVs), ceding crucial head starts to rivals? Maruti seemed to be betting more