‘Every electrified technology – hybrids, EVs – must receive policy support’: Swapnesh Maru

If you look at both companies, and I’m talking specifically about India, there is a strong belief that we have a huge contribution to make to solving one of the biggest problems, which is about fossil fuels. In that sense, given the strengths that Toyota has in terms of the technologies and the excellence that Maruti has demonstrated sequentially in terms of bringing in small to medium cars at cost price points and technologies which are liked by the customers, I think these strengths have combined very well for the Indian consumer and for the companies. We believe this will only accelerate. This partnership will have a lot more to contribute.

Emissions is a big area of focus for the government. There are ongoing discussions on the CAFE 3 norms. How do you see compliance burden when sustainability is such a big area of concern? 

We are witnessing one of the most landmark shifts, that is the massive energy transition every country is tackling. India has taken a lot of proactive steps, not just now, but for quite some time now in terms of leapfrogging from Bharat Stage 4 to 6. And in that trajectory, I think the CAFE norms are just a normal extension. What these norms have already done with CAFE 2, and now with the planned CAFE 3, will be to align us closer towards meeting our national objectives of sustainability. The auto industry is extremely proactive in ensuring that these norms are digested. Of course, there are matters of detail and how we work out the compliances. Those things are still a work in progress. But overall, I believe these norms are extremely important for a country like India from a sustainability perspective and for integration into the global marketplace.

Many manufacturers are now exporting cars that are made in India. But China is also exporting a lot. There, the technology, especially for EVs, is understood to be among the best in the world currently. How can India-made products compete with Chinese exports globally? 

The consumer of any particular market will choose a product which best fits their preferences, their recognition of the brands and the countries those come from. We must credit China for the excellence that they’ve had, not just now, but for many, many decades in terms of this. But I believe that given the geopolitical condition, the way in which a lot of balancing happens, globally, there is a lot of accommodation to look at opportunities along with China. So it’s not about one country replacing another, but how countries other than China can also vie for a consumer’s attention, and then through their manufacturing and quality assurances maybe gain some of the traction. In that sense, we need to work hard. We need to ensure that it’s not just simply about matching China, beating China, but we must imbibe their core capabilities for a sustainable, competitive advantage not just on cost but also on quality and reliability.

How do you see protectionism in this industry going forward? 

We were living in a world where globalisation was a trend for more than a decade. Now, it’s more about individual countries. Businesses have to evolve and tailor to these realities. So for that matter, Make in India is also about a very powerful narrative about the growing consumption capability of India internally. And that may be true for many other countries, which is where India is excellently poised,  given the depth of relationships that we have managed in a world which is widely conflicted. On one hand we continue to work with Russia, we continue to work with Europe, we continue to work with the USA and everybody recognises that India is being extremely deft at managing these relations. These are realities which we cannot change. How we work around them to ensure that we can offer our best is something that we should do more of, and I think India is doing it right.

The clear theme of this year’s Auto Expo (January 2025) was EVs. Almost everyone has showcased their EV technology. But, globally, there is a slowdown in EV demand. Do you think that is a temporary blip, or a cause of larger concern? 

The world is amidst a mega trend, which is about the shift from a fossil fuel to a sustainable energy mix. Every country is making its choices based on the energy mix, the infrastructure and of course the consumer preferences. And these are the trifecta which are manifesting – with a hybrid getting popular in a particular region or a BEV being more popular in European regions where sustainable energy consumption is a little more. These are trends which are kind of rooted in each country’s conviction about their energy mix. So, we should not look at it as a technology preference, but rather as a policy preference. Finally, we should not forget that it is the consumer who has to make the final choice.

But overall, we believe that given the magnitude of what we are trying to solve globally and locally, there is no one single technology that can solve this problem. It’s a mega trend and which is why an approach of multi pathway, a bouquet of technologies should contribute to reaching this outcome at speed and at scale.

In India, we are seeing a regional divergence. Some states are incentivising hybrids, while others are offering benefits for EVs. Do you think there is a need for a more unified approach? 

We must again recognise that the problem that we are trying to solve is humongous. No one technology can solve it at speed and scale. Our belief is that any technology, taking a very agnostic approach, which helps in reducing our fossil fuel imprint at speed at scale must get some kind of a recognition. I would just like to point out that the consumer should not get burdened and therefore alter his choices simply because a greener technology is slightly costlier than a fossil fuel driven vehicle. As long as these parities can be maintained, I think the movement towards sustainability will be very strong. In that context, and we must recognise that we are still a very early player on the electrified technology platform. States are making their policies, inadvertently, without really intending to, we might have ended up supporting one or two technologies, but not get the clear focus on other technologies which could have had an equal importance. So just to ensure that there is a level playing field for the consumer, we believe there is a cause  to just remove this cost inefficiency for the customer on hybrid vis-a-vis ICE (internal combustion engines). We believe that every electrified technology must get recognised and supported.