Full disclosure : My family have been owning Maruti cars for the past 17 years and I absolutely love every single one of them. None of them have left us stranded in the middle of the road or have spent more than a day than that was required at the service station. To top it off, they did it while being extremely frugal and fun at the same time. So my comment is going to be undoubtedly biased towards Maruti.
The general consensus in the thread so far is that Maruti either has a flop in their hand or are going to have a really tough time selling one. I'm not surprised. At the same time, I beg to disagree.
I came here after reading this thread,
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/hatch...vs-others.html (2020 Volkswagen Polo vs Maruti Swift vs Hyundai Elite i20 vs the others) . Now that is what I call an accurate representation of Indian sales figures. 36% Polo, 24% Altroz, 14% Figo, 9% i20, 7% Swift, 4% Grand i10 Nios,
2% Baleno () and 1% Ignis. Right.
I get it. This is a wish list of BHPians. It is not meant to reflect actual car sales. I agree with you. That is exactly what I'm trying to say here. Maruti
could very well have another chart topper in the making, even if it is a flop in the forum.
"
These are sub 10 lakh hatchbacks. This is in no way going to reflect the sales chart of Rs 15 lakh+ vehicles. People are going to put a lot more research into their decisions." Well I believe that people
are already putting a lot of research into their decisions as most if not all of those little hatchbacks breach the 10 lakh barrier in their fully loaded trims. Also, no one is going to deny the fact that the 15 lakh segment is the perfect upgrade path for the current set of hatchback owners.
"
Maruti/Suzuki doesn't know how to build premium cars. The requirement of premium owners are different to that of their current crop of customers." For their information, let me present you the official review of their last premium product.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sidindica MARUTI SUZUKI KIZASHI 2.4 CVT What you'll like:- Sporty and stubby design
- Silky smooth engine with sporty exhaust growl
- Bags of torque with strong mid range
- High interior quality, comprehensive level of standard safety equipment
- Fine balance between ride and handling
- Amazing brakes, 17" wheels a first for the 2.4 litre D segment sedan
- Maruti's high calibre after sales support
What you won't:- Some cheap interior parts
- High rpm rubber band CVT effect and hesitant transmission
- Steering feel not exactly worthy of a "sport" badge
- Over optimistic pricing invites comparisons with superb and accord
- Suzuki brand lacks snob value in the D segment
|
"
The Kizashi was a failure. Nobody bought the overpriced Sedan with a Suzuki badge." Yes. It was a failure. But does that mean people still won't buy a Suzuki C-SUV ? If Maruti seemed to think so, they wouldn't have taken a decade long hiatus and made certain preparations. Read
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...tomers-up.html (Nexa: 11 lakh customers up!)
Adding to that, it is no surprise that Maruti is working on a Toyota product instead of building one from ground up. Does anyone here think Toyota doesn't know how to build/sell a Rs 15L+ vehicle?
"
Maruti is not going to introduce any diesel. They are still going to use the 1.5 petrol and the archaic 4 speed auto transmission." Now this is where I'm going to agree with everyone else in the forum. The product will be a failure if they stick the same powertrain options from Brezza or S-Cross. But I believe Maruti is still keeping an ace up its sleeve. Read
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/225075-toyota-localise-electric-hybrid-tech-india.html (Toyota to localise electric & hybrid tech in India)
The DNGA platform being an iteration of TNGA could very well support full-hybrid vehicles. 'A compact SUV from Maruti that can return around 20 kmpl in Bangalore city traffic and can be driven for 15 years in NCR'. Now tell me that is not going to sell. Of course this is just a speculation. Just like every other post in this thread. Adding to the whole diesel debate, how long do you think other tier 1 cities will hold out before they enforce a ban similar to NCR? And how long after that will there be a nation wide ban?. We all know diesel is a dying breed. It'll last at most another decade and a half. If Maruti can deliver a full hybrid at the price of a diesel, it can bring forward the timeline.
As for turbo petrols, every time Maruti tried to satisfy the enthusiast crowd, things didn't really go that well. Baleno RS and S-Cross 1.6 are recent examples. Granted, they were overpriced for what they were and had other faults. But hey, if Maruti thinks they can keep their cash registers ringing with an average/adequate engine, what's the harm in trying? Enthusiasts can still opt for a Hyundai/Kia with 1.4 turbo which are brilliant products.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ObsessedByFIAT Pure textbook case of To Little To Late. Trust Maruti to do it time and again and Indians to still crowd thier showrooms. |
Sir, we haven't even seen a sketch of the final product be it interior or exterior and it's too little already? No. I'm not implying literally 'too little' . As for too late, do you think people won't buy a decent Maruti product just because it was too late? Brezza was launched almost 4 years after the launch of Ecosport. How did that go for them? People flock to Maruti showrooms because just as you kind of said, people 'trust' them. And as you can see from my opening para, in most cases, that trust remain strong.
Quote:
Originally Posted by landcruiser123 The words "low-cost version" raise a lot of red flags in my mind. |
If they can launch a low cost platform
without compromising safety or overall quality, why shouldn't they do it. Even the VW group which is hailed for it's engineering prowess in the forum is introducing a low cost MQB A0 IN platform. Nobody seemed to bat an eyelid on that.
To sum it up, all I'll say is that, if Maruti decides to go for something like a larger looking S-Cross with the same old powertrain, they will have a loser. If they decide to properly team up with Toyota and make the most use of their partnership, Hyundai and Kia will be seeing some tough competition in a couple of years.