Fuel Price Shock Sends Buyers to Maruti's CNG and e Vitara
Maruti Suzuki has reported a sharp jump in bookings for its electric e Vitara and CNG lineup in May 2026, following a near Rs 8 per litre hike in petrol and diesel prices over 11 days. Senior executive Partho Banerjee confirmed the trend at a recent media interaction.
What was announced
Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales at Maruti Suzuki India, said the e Vitara collected over 4,000 bookings in May 2026, almost double the previous run rate. CNG bookings across the Maruti portfolio jumped roughly 40 percent after the latest fuel price revision, with Banerjee noting the booking rate moved from X to 1.4X immediately after the hike was announced.
Buy the Maruti CNG today, wait on the e Vitara: Maruti can only build 2,000 units a month against 4,000-plus bookings.
The trigger is a near Rs 8 per litre increase in petrol and diesel prices over the preceding 11 days across major Indian cities. CNG prices have also risen, but the fuel remains significantly cheaper on a per-kilometre basis than petrol or diesel, which is why buyers are migrating. The Wagon R CNG alone now accounts for more than half of all Maruti bookings, underlining how concentrated the CNG demand is at the entry end of the market.
On the EV side, Maruti has flagged a supply constraint: e Vitara production is currently limited to about 2,000 units per month due to component availability, against the 4,000-plus May booking tally. That implies waiting periods will stretch through the second half of 2026 unless output is ramped. Tata Motors has separately reported rising demand for its EV and CNG models in the same window, suggesting the shift is industry-wide rather than Maruti-specific.
The Car Jury verdict
The booking jump is real, but the buying advice splits cleanly. For most cost-conscious families, the answer is a Maruti CNG car, not the e Vitara. The Swift and Brezza CNG remain our BUY picks because they slash running cost without forcing a lifestyle change, and Maruti's CNG dominance is a fact of the market. As Biturbo Media notes, "most of the cars in the A-segment are from Maruti," and that scale shows up in service and resale.
The e Vitara stays a WAIT. Maruti is capping production at 2,000 units against 4,000-plus bookings, so waiting periods will balloon, and Motor Inc rightly points out Maruti is "always the one talking about efficiency," not EV polish. Let the queue clear and the price settle before signing.