When Will You See A Sunroof On A Maruti?

Sunroofs have become hugely popular with new car buyers in recent times, but interestingly, the country’s largest carmaker does not offer this feature

Till five years ago, a sunroof was a sight to behold as it was only found on high-end luxury cars. Now, it is knocking on the door of the sub-Rs 10 lakh segment. Strangely enough, Maruti Suzuki is yet to come to the party. Over the years, India’s largest carmaker has been on point when bringing in new features or technology, but in the case of the sunroof, it has been rather slow.

Even Tata Motors, which at one point was adamant that sunroofs are detrimental to safety, are offering sunroofs and so is Mahindra. Hyundai has been offering sunroofs for quite some time, and so has Kia. They, along with Maruti, round up the top five of the Indian market.

The question, however, remains. When will India’s largest carmaker adopt the sunroof - a premium feature that is slowly and steadily finding its way onto mass-market cars? For those of you wondering why this is an important question, it’s because Maruti’s whole empire is built on seling mass-market cars. 

In fact, the most expensive car currently sold by Maruti is the S-Cross at Rs 12.56 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi). However, one of its biggest competitors, Tata Motors, offers a regular sunroof on the mid-spec XM S variant of the Nexon, which is priced at Rs 8.81 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi). Not only that, Hyundai also offers a panoramic sunroof on its SX Executive variant of the Creta, which is priced at Rs 13.34 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi). The Nexon, then, is the cheapest car to offer a regular sunroof, while the Creta is the cheapest car to offer a panoramic sunroof; and both are pretty much the reason Maruti needs to join the sunroof party ASAP!

The sunroof on the Tata Nexon.

So where does that leave Maruti? Well, it is working with Toyota to develop a new compact SUV, one that will rival the likes of Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos. We think it will be this Creta rival that will be the first Maruti Suzuki car to sport a sunroof. It will be hard for Maruti to not offer a sunroof on its Creta rival, as it's kind of a prerequisite in the segment.

However, we have also spied the new Maruti Vitara Brezza without any camouflage and it did feature a sunroof! Considering it is one of Maruti's best-selling models despite the starting price of over Rs 7.5 lakh, it might jump the queue to become the first brand offering with this feature. The Creta-rival could get a larger sunroof for a more premium cabin experience.

The panoramicsunroof on the Hyundai Creta.

The Creta rival will also become Maruti’s halo product. It will, therefore, be expected to sport a premium set of features to distinguish it from the rest of the lineup, and a sunroof will be the perfect way to do that.