Maruti Suzuki India targets up to 700 NEXA Studio outlets by 2030-31

New Delhi, Feb 27 (PTI) Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India plans to have up to 700 outlets of its small format premium retail chain NEXA Studio by 2030-31 as it seeks to tap opportunity in India's non-urban areas, a senior company official said on Friday.

The company, which opened the 200th NEXA Studio outlet at Kharkhoda in Haryana, expects 25-30 per cent of its total sales to come from the small format premium retail outlet, Maruti Suzuki India Senior Executive Officer, Marketing & Sales, Partho Banerjee told reporters here in an interaction.

"In the last 18 months, almost every third day we have opened one NEXA Studio (outlet) across the country," he said.

Banerjee said the idea behind opening NEXA Studio outlets was to take the premium experience of Nexa channel to smaller towns, where there is a lot of potential.

"By 2030-31, we are aiming something between 600 to 700 NEXA Studio outlets across the country," Banerjee said when asked about the expansion plans of the small format premium outlets.

In terms of sales contribution, he said right now, NEXA Studio accounts for around 8- 10 per cent of sales from the overall NEXA channel. "By 2030-31 we are expecting that it should be at least 25 to 30 per cent," he added.

Maruti Suzuki India's NEXA channel accounts for 40 per cent of its overall sales with the rest coming from its mass market chain ARENA.

Banerjee said despite being small in size, the NEXA Studio outlets offer the same premium experience as a full format NEXA outlet in big cities and metros, including EV charging facilities as the company seeks to trickle down electrification to smaller cities and towns.

The company has recently rolled out its first electric vehicle, e VITARA SUV in the domestic market.

"After the launch of the product, we are almost receiving close to 2,000 to 2,500 inquiries per day," Banerjee said.

Till July the company does not expect to exceed production of 2,000 units a month as it recalibrates production numbers every month for different models "in order to keep waiting period for all models at the same level".

In all, Maruti Suzuki India's NEXA sales network presently has over 740 outlets across more than 530 cities.

In a statement, Maruti Suzuki India Managing Director & CEO Hisashi Takeuchi said NEXA stands for innovation, design, and premium ownership experience. "The rapid expansion of NEXA Studios demonstrates our commitment to make this experience accessible to our aspirational customers in semi-urban areas," added.

"There is a growing segment of customers in these areas who are desirous of a premium car buying experience. To cater to their needs, we are happy to expand our NEXA footprint to such locations," Takeuchi said. PTI RKL ANU ANU