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-   -   Maruti sleeping at the wheel | Where are the new car launches? | Why is Maruti missing new trends? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/242741-maruti-sleeping-wheel-where-new-car-launches-why-maruti-missing-new-trends-10.html)

My experience has been the opposite, a friend bought an XUV300 and curses the sound quality every time, he said the Tiago has spoilt him :D
But for a majority it doesn't matter much.

Thanks, everything in that chart is exactly what they're doing. A company's "presentation" which is valid 100% on ground is a rarity!
Apart from affordable price there's the all encompassing volumes and I rest my hope(whatever is left of it) on point 3 for an "aspirational product".
The chart basically shuts up any thought of a "surprise launch", its just not their objective.

IMO it seems like this is what we sell, if you like it you buy it else buy something else..
So they're also the most efficient in killing enthusiasm :Frustrati

As a person who has owned not 1 but two cng powered vehicles (1 still going strong at 8 years) i beg to differ from both your statements. A sequential system has a minor reduction in performance and in normal city driving conditions, it is not even noticeable on a day to day basis. Neither has the performance degraded, nor has the fuel efficiency, despite having clocked 70,000 km in the vehicle.
While I agree that boot space is sacrificed, that is a minor trade off, considering the major advantages in the current high fuel cost scenario.

Regarding safety, again, as a user of 2 vehicles with a combined age of over 14 years total, having pressure tested the CNG bottles thrice, I can objectively say that CNG is no more dangerous than a petrol powered vehicle.

While EVs are the future, they are not the near future. There needs to be a stop gap between the petrol and diesel vehicles and the full scale EV vehicles around a decade down the line. CNG fills that gap very efficiently.

In India the CNG infrastructure is improving by leaps and bounds and it should be aggressively pushed by state as well as the central governments with incentives to the manufacturers to provide CNG powered variants if there is any hope of denting the pollution issue in the country.

That's the keyword.

Others, just like us members, who would look for good sound quality, can upgrade it aftermarket.

PS: The 15k rupee aftermarket setup on my WagonR sounds better than the stock setup of my Kia (keeping the sound insulation aside).:)

It's good that in day to day driving you are not experiencing the power drop.

However, the Power loss can not be denied.
As per Maruti's own claims, the CNG Ertiga makes 91HP & 122NM Torque.
In comparison, the Petrol Ertiga makes 104HP & 138NM.

In Percentage terms, there is a 12.5% HP Loss, and 11.8% Torque Loss, when the same engine is run on CNG.
The Torque loss is substantial in my view (16NM less).

Source of above figures:
https://www.marutisuzuki.com/cng/ertiga

Coming to Practicality, lugging around a 60L Compressed Gas tank in Boot makes the vehicle impractical in my books.

Nevertheless, lets at least agree to disagree, and move on. :)

All good points GTO and accepted without demur. I just wanted to nuance your critique a little.

It’s been terrible last five years for the entire Auto industry on aggregate. There are bright spots, however on the whole its not a pretty picture. Given the changing customer preferences, changing regulation and even ownership preferences (wrt Ola/ Uber), it was very difficult time for any body to keep pace. Covid and semi con related disruptions didn’t help the cause. With that in mind, It may not be fair to compare it with NIFTY 50 index. If one compares it with the Nifty Auto Index, you will see Maruti has fared better.

And well, disruption is still not over. Our ownership preference will likely shift again in favor of Ola/ Uber; regulatory norms will continue to change (CAFE norms - FY22, BS6 stage - FY23), semi con shortage will continue to plague the industry in the near term. CAFE forms might be particularly challenging for Maruti given that the portfolio is entirely petrol fired. I am not sure if increasing CNG will help the cause. Nevertheless, they will need to shift the portfolio to gasoline direct injection systems (and turbochargers ???; lets see). They might time the launches after the festive season as a substantial price increase will be warranted. This will also give them the opportunity to launch upgrades/ facelifts and new models. When we look at Maruti today we are looking at the bottom of the model launch cycle.

Top down, they clearly failed to populate the portfolio with SUVs appropriately. However, bottom up, in the recent times the only model that actually failed for them was the Scross. That is a phenomenal track record. Many models are end of cycle and are therefore looking jaded and fatigued. The updates are around the corner. They have competent models. A richer feature list and better stying (and yes panoramic sun roof ;-)) can rekindle the customer interest. In any case the entire crossover industry has to now stand up to the XUV700. Thats the one to beat.

Zooming out of the past few years and peeking into future, following might work for them:
1. The segments now Maruti operates in has very little or no competition. This will allow them to invest in the adjacencies.
2. While all and sundry are launching electric cars, no one seem to be investing in battery tech. Suzuki’s (not Maruti Suzuki though) lithium Ion battery plant will go live soon in Gujarat. This can potentially give the company a distinct advantage.
3. To future proof the portfolio they tied up with Toyota. Lets bear in mind, they are yet to launch a single model from Toyota’s stable. We shall see at least a few SUVs from the stable over the next three years. First off the block will be hybrids. With petrol prices tearing away, will hybrids change the game yet again? Meanwhile, Maruti has already shared the models that it was supposed to with Toyota.
4. In all these years no one has really questioned the long term reliability of the Maruti cars. Lets be honest, how many people on this forum will recommend Safari (just case in point) to friends and family.
5. Jimmy, where art though
6. Finally, an explosion in demand for CNG cars is happening. Maruti alone is able to cater. No one else has seems even have a pipeline of factory fitted CNG cars.

These were some random musings penned rapidly with disregard for structure and readability.

Let this thread be the reflection of the high expectations we hold from Maruti (Suzuki)!

If they did what has been advised in the previous 9 pages, won't they get a 90% market share :coldsweat?

Well, as shared by many it's not all sunny and rosy at their end at the time being, but again if not them, then I don't think any othe manufacturer has the where withal to provide the cars that India (more importantly Bharat) needs for basic mobility alongwith a 'peace of mind' ownership.

Time has indeed come for them to upgrade their cars and being a sound business they should be doing it along with managing the stretched production of their existing models which are months on waiting.

There is certainly light at the end of the tunnel and a candid browse on this link will show that they can bring such vehicles to India if there is an existential crisis.

Technology and more!


As a S-Cross 1.6 owner I may have a certain bias, but I urge fellow bhpians to give credit where it is due and not write their epitaph so soon. Agreed, they have changed only when a push changes to shove, but that is expected when we see their volumes and the effort needed to change one single thing in a production car.

They have brought numerous technology advances to the common man's category and even their handicaps have nourished the growth of competition alternate options in The Indian Car Scene.

It is indeed an overall ownership experience that matters and not merely 3-5 bling features which may seal the initial deal but might make one to compromise on the basics, which we learnt the hard way on our Endeavour purchase. (Instead of a Fortuner:Frustrati)

My humble submission that let's wait for the pandemic / chip shortage dust to settle, await their new launches and then worry about Maruti only when they lose their slot as the top manufacturer in a particular year.

May be they are passive in product strategy by choice and it has worked for them. There are multiple examples

- B+ Hatchs : Baleno was launched almost half a decade after Jazz / i20 and it is ruling the segment
- 4.4m Sedan : Ciaz was almost a decade late than City / Verna and its doing good
- Brezza - Entered segment 4 years after ecosport and we all know the numbers
- In couple of year Suzuki will launch Vitara (4.3m) and it will find a comfort zone in the segment

Base line is they know their customers and their approach works perfectly for them. Car ownership penetration is low and there will a large chunk of buyers who are first time car owners. And Suzuki with strongest service network, lowest cost of ownership and niggle free products is serving that segment really well. 4 wheeler buying for masses is a grand event and they will never experiment unlike a lot of us who believe in giving chances to VAG / Renault / Ford.

They are not selling cars, they are selling peace of mind (their audience want it more than fun to drive element)

They do-not have to prove anything, they will wait wait wait and launch stable niggle free products (e.g. Kushaq, 4.3/4m CSUV segment is obvious opportunity and there are only koreans present, VAG jumped and burned, Suzuki is waiting but I am sure when they will launch Vitara it will be a matured product where first lot will be niggle free)

Sorry if this point has been already discussed: One thing I have never understood is, why Maruti doesn't use the CVT from Baleno in other cars? It can do wonders in Swift and perhaps Brezza petrol too. May be we will see it on the next gen Brezza. I am sure they are loosing many AT customers when it comes to Swift simply because of the AMT.
One thing Maruti should continue doing is, offering the split rear seat like it offers on most of the hatchbacks, which the competitors do not, even on the top variants.

I’m not at all surprised by this situation! When you keep dinosaurs at top position, can’t expect modern ideas to happen. Some people take the organisations to their grave also, mostly Maruti is on the way. Those who think Maruti can pull back has to be the biggest optimists alive on earth. The last time I bought a Maruti was 2002, 20 years back!!!

If someone of my age isn’t looking at Maruti for a new car purchase, fat chance that the younger generation who are more aware than of my generation to go looking for one at a Maruti showroom. I would be happy to see the company that put India on wheels to bite the dust, rather than see people’s lives being put at risk. If they haven’t invested in R&D, it just means they weren’t bothered in the first place. If companies like Tata and Mahindra who has most of their sales from India can develop a world class R&D, then Suzuki who has the lion share of Indian market as well as dependent on India to keep them afloat have no reason not to spend money for R&D. The earlier these unscrupulous oragnisations close down, the more better it would be.

NB: What kind of a pathetic company would keep an 87 year old as Chairman and that too who has complete disregard to the average man of his nation, who buys his tin contraptions believing his family would be safe.

When I think of Maruti the following are the things that comes to my mind immediately.

1. Tin can build lol:
2. Non existence of engine options (no diesel, no turbo petrol)
3. Heart-attack platform - lack of safety
4. Dinosaur age 4 AT
5. Same old window switches from Swift 2005 in all their models :D

In simple terms Maruti is a <10 lakh player and their market share will come down if they don't address some of the above issues.

I feel it's rather simple logic applied here by Maruti Suzuki. The AMT is cheaper unit hence use the same and increase the margins! The same goes for the 4 Speed AT. The company is all about fatter margins and these units makes sure of that hence why to use the CVT if consumers are still lapping up these! :p

Maruti does not innovate (or bring out new cars or offer more features like its competition), because it does not have to. In India people are going to buy Maruti - and still is buying Maruti- despite not having anything better than the competition. Our market has a strong herd mentality and that alone is enough to keep its market share. It has a whopping 50% market share in India, and it is not going anytime soon.

We are discussing this in 2021. But even, 6 years back when I was looking to buy a car, I did not find anything in Maruti showroom that was better than its competitors. Next time I was again looking to purchase a car - a year before lockdown (in 2019) - I personally felt that the competition was way ahead. Looking at Brezza, I did not find any reason why I would buy it. Nexon, XUV300, Ecosport were way better - each had their own USP. But look which one sold the most. It is Brezza. Now, why would they want to spend money on research and development when their products are selling anyway, that too beyond anyone's expectations.

There is an issue in this strategy. Focus on R&D and the actual change in market response is not immediate. If the company announces a drastic change in the R&D strategy, lets say they want to build safer cars and give a lot of more features and better quality. The outcome of this would be only visible in the product/market a few years after this decision. There is a limitation to what can be changed in minor facelifts and thats clearly visible. The major changes are all restricted to model changes and this is at least a three year plan if not more. In this time frame, the company should still be able to sell the existing cars. The more stagnant R&D/product portfolio becomes, closer is the tipping point. After that, recovery would not be immediate and would take a very difficult path.

Consider the case of Tata. They were in the Indica/Indigo era for a long time and came out with numerous versions and combinations of what was the same car and even got the Nano in this time. But none of them could hold sales since they were not upto the benchmarks of the competition and were far behind. They have been speaking of immense R&D work from around a decade and yet and the results are only showing up now slightly in terms of sales numbers. From the lukewarm response to the Zest and Bolt, to the Nexon, Tiago and Tigor, to the current line up and now is when they are steadily posting increasing sales.

For Maruti, there is still good word of mouth feedback from existing owners. But as internet reaches more and more people, they are becoming more aware of what the competition offers as well as what Maruti lacks in. The sooner this issue is tackled, the easier the recovery is. That is where the strategy of everything is fine, lets not change - is not always a good one.

Such information fuels further angst and lends credence to the 9 previous pages on this issue. When Suzuki, which derives its largest revenue from India, does not deem it fit to introduce the regular Vitara with all the right powertrain options and contemporary tech features, while the likes of Mahindra and MG choose to bring the latest, it appears to be an inherent contempt for the buyers.

When I bought the scross 1.6, people laughed at me saying who the hell pays 15+lacs for a Maruti? Suzuki did bring in good cars, Kizashi, SCross 1.6, sx4, Baleno sedan etc but these were never “volume sellers” as per Maruti. Sad to say but I foresee Maruti sticking to bare boned tin cans even in near future as long as Indians keep thronging into their showrooms, herd mentality, that’s what I can say.