Maruti To Launch Suzuki Splash as Maruti Suzuki Ritz in May 2009

[Car-Agey]

Splash will be luanchd around june,july. It will have the same Swift desiel engine for which the trials are already on. Also the engine production has already started.

For petrol both Swifts and A-Stars engine may be offered.

[007 Bond]

Originally Posted by Car-Agey

Splash will be luanchd around june,july. It will have the same Swift desiel engine for which the trials are already on. Also the engine production has already started.

For petrol both Swifts and A-Stars engine may be offered.

Has diesel eng specs changed as you have said production started because swift engine is very much into production.

seems so june / july is the new launch ground for car makers, with budget in this period. Quite a few launches which I know are Maruti Ritz, Tata Crossover & Fiat Punto.

[Car-Agey]

I dont know, never thought of the same. Shell confirm it with my source. May be they are marking out few numbers for Splash.

[VKJ]

Oh! that's good news for Indian automobile industry. Are they planning to phase out swift or continue along with Ritz. Would it not cannibalize the market for swift. Let's watch how market favors the new variant.

[avishar]

Originally Posted by VKJ

Oh! that's good news for Indian automobile industry. Are they planning to phase out swift or continue along with Ritz. Would it not cannibalize the market for swift. Let's watch how market favors the new variant.

Ha Ha, phasing out is a term which is not present in maruti's dictionary.I am sure maruti will continue to sell the swift,A-star and the Ritz all together along with the present models.And they will continue growing!!

[mayjay]

Originally Posted by 007 Bond

Has diesel eng specs changed as you have said production started because swift engine is very much into production.

The engine is the same unit as the swift (diesel), but to meet new emission standards it will have different ecu settings. it won't give the same rush as the swift.

[okvinu]

Some more points for the debates..
In Belgium and Netherlands, I have seen Maruti Wagon R as well as Suzuki splash as 'Opel Agila' which is their lowest model. The next model is coarsa.
You can see much similarities between the designs of both the cars.
Vauxhall UK
Opel Agila Belgium
Opel Belgium
I have a few snaps of Opel Agila from Netherlands which I saw yesterday.





It was showing a 1.2 litre badge at the rear, though they have a 1L engine also.
I did not looked its boot space but it looks smaller.

All these companies are under General Motors. So they just make some facelifts for different markets.
Off topic- you can see similarities in design between new opel corsa 5 door and the hyundai i20.

Maruti.. do not stop WagonR production..

[avishar]

Yes the wagon-r range of suzuki has always been available as a rebagded opel agila or a vauxhall n european and british markets.
IMO the opel version looks better.

[romeomidhun]

If Maruti introduce Splash in India, it will directly compete with its own Swift in the same price bracket.

One of my friend working in UK told me that the quality of Swift available there is much ahead of that in India. Surely, Maruti has done some cost-cutting measures for Swift in India to keep the price in the 4-6 lakh category.

Since the number of sales of Swift is in the 10,000 region and the B+ segment is growing in India, Maruti can do one thing: increase the quality levels of Swift to the international levels, increase the price to another 30K (price it in the 4.5 - 6.5 region), and introduce the Splash in the current Swift position.

[xPK]

Originally Posted by romeomidhun

Maruti can do one thing: increase the quality levels of Swift to the international levels, increase the price to another 30K (price it in the 4.5 - 6.5 region), and introduce the Splash in the current Swift position.

Increasing quality levels is indeed a good suggestion, but I would not expect Ritz to be placed in Swift's position.

IMO pricing of Ritz (1.2) will be competitive to i10 (Kappa)

[romeomidhun]

Source:Nano counter-attack: Maruti to roll out Ritz by May

"In a tussle to capture the Indian passenger car market, Maruti is likely to launch Maruti Splash or Ritz in the second week of May. Ritz will mount a 1.2 litre (KB series) petrol or 1.3-litre diesel engine and will be priced at around Rs 4-5.5 lakh. It will be positioned above WagonR but closer to Swift. Swift's petrol version may also be replaced by the 1.2-litre KB engine when Euro IV norms kick-in. Maruti is also likely to launch its new Alto in early 2010. When contacted Maruti said, “We will launch Ritz in the next fiscal.”"

Splash launch on May 2009, new engine for Swift and new Alto?

A 1.2L petrol engine for Swift instead of current 1.3L engine will give it the tax benefit also. So the prices of Swift petrol will be reduced?

[abhibh]

Originally Posted by romeomidhun

Source:Nano counter-attack: Maruti to roll out Ritz by May

"In a tussle to capture the Indian passenger car market, Maruti is likely to launch Maruti Splash or Ritz in the second week of May. Ritz will mount a 1.2 litre (KB series) petrol or 1.3-litre diesel engine and will be priced at around Rs 4-5.5 lakh. It will be positioned above WagonR but closer to Swift. Swift's petrol version may also be replaced by the 1.2-litre KB engine when Euro IV norms kick-in. Maruti is also likely to launch its new Alto in early 2010. When contacted Maruti said, “We will launch Ritz in the next fiscal.”"

Splash launch on May 2009, new engine for Swift and new Alto?

A 1.2L petrol engine for Swift instead of current 1.3L engine will give it the tax benefit also. So the prices of Swift petrol will be reduced?

New Alto ? Huh ? Another face lift or completely new ?

[breezydrive]

Saw this car being driven on ring road, see the vehicle size with i10 & i20 also on the road.

[Gautam Misra]

Originally Posted by tifosimagic

The ugly rear is such a let down though.

At times looks of a car take a backseat. Santro is a classic example!

Take a look at some of the "fake" websites of the upcoming car from MSIL:

Maruti Suzuki Ritz Review Maruti Ritz Mileage Specifications Launch Price

Maruti Suzuki Ritz Review, specifications, fuel efficiency, launch date, mileage

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by romeomidhun

Source:Nano counter-attack: Maruti to roll out Ritz by May


Splash launch on May 2009, new engine for Swift and new Alto?

A 1.2L petrol engine for Swift instead of current 1.3L engine will give it the tax benefit also. So the prices of Swift petrol will be reduced?

There was news on internet that Suzuki will put in the 1.2 ltr. mill in Swift for tax benefits. IMO, it would take character out of Swift. Add to that the overlap that will happen between Swift and Ritz.
Now that K-series is 1242cc from what I have read on net. They will have to reduce the capacity, as a consequence of which, the power will down slightly. But the lightweight of K1.2 can compensate for that. The K10B from A-star weights 47 kg dry ( IIRC, read on Zig wheels ), compare that with 70 kg for G10 of Zen ( I remember this because 1.0 FIRE engine of Fiat UNO was 69 kg ). So we can expect Swift to weight in less than the current car.

If this move happens, Swift price will reduce along with a reduced gap between Ritz and Swift. I am not expecting a new engine for Alto, but if E-IV norms are to be put in, expect an entirely new range of mills in maruti cars. The F and G series have almost reached saturation point and it would be worth to have a new range rather than work on the old ones.

Ritz is ofcourse for the family man with more expected space and not with that claustrophobic rear seat.

@beezydrive : Nice shots surely of Ritz.
@Gautam Misra : Good information. I doubt the Ritz will come with 1.0 motor as again there will be overlap.

Sometimes I feel that there are so many maruti small cars that they end up overlapping in placements. But on the brighter side, the customer has a wide range to select from.

EDIT : Came across this news.

Source : ICAT starts operations; approves 'Ritz' for India

Article :

NEW DELHI: The International Centre of Automotive Technology has started its operations at Manesar in Haryana by granting approval to the country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India's forthcoming model -- Ritz.

International Centre of Automotive Technology (ICAT) has cleared Ritz in a whole vehicle test approval ceremony, held recently at the test centre's premises in Manesar, thereby clearing ground for rolling out the car in the Indian market.

A division of National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRiP), ICAT is a notified testing agency and is working towards the development of automobile industry
in the country.

ICAT is currently investing Rs 440 crore in expanding its facilities at an additional area of 46 acres in its Manesar centre. The new facilities would include a power-train laboratory, engine dynamometers, emission laboratory with Euro V capability, a fatigue laboratory passive safety laboratory as well as vehicle test tracks.

Earlier NATRiP, a joint venture of the Centre, a number of state governments and the country's auto industry to create a testing, validation and R&D infrastructure, had announced to invest Rs 1,718 crore for setting up of seven auto testing facilities at seven locations across India by 2011.

Apart from ICAT, Manesar, the other six locations are Chennai, Indore, Silchar, Pune, Rae Bareilly and Ahmednagar.