Meet Sonal Deshmukh, 40, a Mumbai-based banker. A fortnight in the past, when she was available in the market to switch her 15-year-old midsize sedan with one other car, she was very clear – she did not need simply one other sedan and her subsequent car needed to be an SUV. Final month, Deshmukh drove dwelling the top-end variant of a midsize SUV.
“I wanted a automotive which provides me sufficient headroom and legroom, affords excessive seating with out compromising on the finesse of a sedan however manoeuvres via the visitors and potholes with ease. Additionally, one thing which can be utilized for the weekend getaways with household. The mid-size SUV we lastly selected ticked all of the packing containers,” mentioned Deshmukh.
Curiously, the shift is extra pronounced in electrical SUVs, say firm executives. Girls presently comprise about 22% of gross sales of the electrical model of Tata Motors’ Nexon compact SUV in comparison with 15% for the inner combustion engine-powered mannequin.
MG Motor India, the second largest EV maker by gross sales after Tata Motors, is seeing an analogous development. Over time, MG has witnessed a gradual however regular enhance within the share of ladies consumers. Presently, ladies consumers contribute as much as 15% of complete car gross sales amongst all its prospects.
“Over time, MG Motor India has witnessed a gradual however regular enhance within the share of ladies consumers. Presently, ladies consumers contribute to fifteen% of the whole car gross sales amongst all our prospects. However their share is way greater in the case of EVs. Girls account for about 24% of consumers inside MG’s EV portfolio (MG ZS EV and MG Comet) reflecting a notable presence of feminine customers within the electrical car section,” mentioned Gaurav Gupta, deputy MD.
Gupta expects the share of ladies to rise given the benefit and luxury of driving the newest SUV fashions and wider vary of creature comforts.
Shashank Srivastava, senior government officer at Maruti Suzuki, India says that increasingly ladies are becoming a member of the office and each automotive shopping for and automotive utilization have gotten commonplace amongst ladies. “The automotive utilization for ladies was largely confined to hatches and sedans however the brand new, assured ladies are driving and proudly owning SUVs, in all probability reflecting this confidence and prowess.”
Inside the SUV section, premium SUVs are seeing the strongest demand, albeit on a low base, rising from 450 in 2018 to 2,500 in 2023, adopted by compact SUVs the place gross sales jumped 4.5 occasions to 76,000 models in 2023 from 18,000 models in 2018.
