Maruti Suzuki is all about leading from the front for the masses. With several records under its belt, the Indo-Japanese carmaker has now announced yet another milestone. Cumulative sales of CNG-powered models have surpassed the 5-lakh mark. That, apart from being a monetary success, is also a moral triumph. Selling lakhs of eco-friendly cars in a country battling with air toxicity on several levels is something to be proud of.

The story of selling variants with factory-fitted CNG kits began in the 2010-11 fiscal year with the Alto, SX4, Wagon R, Eeco and the Estilo. During 2013-14 FY, Maruti Suzuki introduced the Ertiga with a CNG kit. The following fiscal saw the introduction of CNG-powered variants of the Alto K10 and the Celerio. Over 2017-18 fiscal, India’s largest carmaker inject the CNG kit in the Dzire Tour and the Super Carry. Presently, the carmaker offers factory-fitted CNG kits in eight models including the Alto 800, Alto K10, Wagon R, Celerio, Dzire, Eeco and Super Carry. Out of the lot, the Wagon R is the highest selling CNG model in Maruti Suzuki’s portfolio.

Here’s what Kenichi Ayukawa, MD and CEO, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., said in an official release:

“We are happy that over 5 lakh customers have selected factory-fitted CNG vehicles that are cleaner, reliable, safer and environment friendly. The benefit of low cost of ownership comes along with environment friendly fuel option of CNG. The government’s resolve to rapidly expand countrywide CNG will enable many more customers to own an environment friendly transport.”

Maruti Suzuki claims that the CNG-powered vehicles sell well in Delhi-NCR as well as select cities in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. During the ongoing fiscal year, the carmaker has expanded the availability of these eco-friendly variants to 26 new cites, and the total is now north of 150 cities nationwide.

During the first eight months of the 2018-19 fiscal year, CNG-fed variants contributed to 15 per cent (approximately) of the total sales of the eight models which are available with the eco-friendly fuel option. Over the same period, Maruti Suzuki has witnessed an increase in sales of CNG vehicles by over 50 per cent compared with the same period last fiscal. Do you want the numbers? Here they are: