Maruti accelerates its compact SUV launch plan

The story of the decline in the market share of India’s leading car maker Maruti Suzuki is not an inside one. With its first ‘below 40’ percent of market share, the company is doing all it can to regain its position and share. For this purpose the company has just launched its MPV Maruti Ertiga at compelling price range between Rs. 5.89 lakh and Rs. 8.45 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). And now Maruti Suzuki India is engaged in a discussion with the parent company, Suzuki Motor Corp, Japan for accelerating the launch of its planned compact SUV. According to Shinzo Nakanishi, CEO of Maruti Suzuki India, the company is pressing Suzuki and the inland engineers for the quickened development of the compact SUV which is expected to help the company increase its market share.

See More Maruti XA-Alpha Pictures                                                          Read More on Maruti XA-Alpha

During the 2012 Auto Expo held in New Delhi, MSI demonstrated a concept interpretation of the compact XA-Alpha SUV which has been designed together by the engineers of Maruti Suzuki India and Suzuki Japan. More often than not, a car takes around 18-24 months for its development that includes designing, commercial manufacturing and final production. Looking at the upcoming SUVs like Ford EcoSport and Renault Duster, Maruti Suzuki wishes to compete with them with its aforementioned SUV and is confident that the launch of this new car could be accelerated. The compact SUV XA-Alpha’s launch is going to establish Maruti Suzuki in the utility segment too, thus completing the company’s array of compact cars across all categories in the sub-10 lakh segment.

See More Maruti Ertiga Pictures                                                                   Read More on Maruti Ertiga

According to the Managing Executive Director – Marketing of the company, Mayank Pareek, the major reason behind the slump in the market share to 38.5 percent is the strike at the Manesar plant and also the absence of utility vehicles from Maruti’s line-up which makes up 15 percent of the total passenger vehicle market in India. Mr. Pareek, also indicated that the darling MPV of Maruti Suzuki, Ertiga launched this Thrusday is going to be exported to Indonesia towards the end of this month; he however, refused to share Ertiga’s sales target. Maruti Ertiga is affixed with a 1.4 liter turbocharged petrol engine and a 1.3 liter turbo diesel engine to compete with segment masters Toyota Innova, Mahindra Xylo and Bolero. The price range of Ertiga (Rs. 5.89-Rs. 8.45 lakh) is way less than that of Bolero (Rs. 6.19-6.96 lakh), Xylo (Rs 7.47-10.47 lakh) and Innova (Rs 9.14-13.59 lakh). All prices are ex-showroom, Delhi.

Read More on : click here to read more on Maruti XA Alpha