[Zappo]

Look at it this way. Who could be the possible clients for this vehicle? I believe two categories of them,

* Those who are on a lookout for people carriers. These are mostly cab owners and sometimes people who have a big family and want to lug them all together.
* Those who have a yen for tall SUVish kind of vehicles. They are also enthusiasts on most occassions.

Barring the above two class of people most others would rather buy a sedan. Now in the above two categories take the first one. Cab owners are people who would like to have rugged, low maintenance vehicles which can take all the beatings without much complain and still keep running. In other words better ROI. For this class of people the plain old Sumo is what the doctor prescribed. They were also the ones who were responsible for making Sumo a hit. As you will find every 9 out of the 10 Sumos are owned by the cabbies. They can not be bothered with chic beige interiors or a turbo-charged 120 hp Dicor engine. All that complexity translates into higher maintenance cost for the cabbies and their ways of handling vehicles.

Now there are some people who have a huge family and want to lug them together at a low cost. For them also the regular Sumos fit the bill (that 1 out of the 10 figure) and to some extent the Used car market supplied Qualises.

That leaves you with the enthusiasts who are looking for an SUVish kind of vehicle at a comparatively low cost. Unfortunately the Sumo brand with its boxy look, leaf spring suspensions etc. will never fit that category. Also, if they could spend something close to 7 lakhs on a Grande they would rather stretch a little more and look into the entry level Safari class (and now Scorpio as well).

Ulimately the Grande ended up in the no man's land. It got killed mainly due to its muddled brand positioning.