[jkdas]

I dont think the diesel will be out now as they can manufacture only 2500 diesel engines a month.

Its looks good (bit i20ish),but will it beat i20 is specs?

[Hurrycane12]

Looks like crowding the hatchback section will work well for Maruti as prospective buyers get all kind of variants under one roof.

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by GTO

If I were a prospective hatchback customer, I'd sure as hell end up dumb-founded in a Maruti showroom!!

Maruti can save a lot of confusion. Just stop the 800, the Zen Estillo, the Wagon R, the Versa and the Omni.
Alto, A Star, Ritz, Swift, SX4, GV - this is much simpler!

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Pulling the plug on the Estilo is not going to happen if we are to believe some posts on the forum. A re-designed Estilo is on the cards

What are they going to do with that? The estillo sports was the worst sports model i have ever seen!

[Eddy]

I think it was mentioned somewhere that it will be a complete design change. Not a cosmetic one like the sportz edition

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by amtak

I know of this from my dealer. How good the car looks with the face lift? I am keen to know this as I have always loved the estilo for its practicality. And when is it getting launched?

At the most, as seen somewhere else, Maruti may change the headlight design of Estilo. And no such change will help the car look good, as the absence of a prominent bonnet spoils its character as a car.

[marlinspike]

800 is anyway out.
Alto the base model if someone needs a car and thats all he is willing to pay this is what he gets.

Wagon -R will be in the same state as 800 when alto entered the market
but will end up being phased out in a couple of years but for the Duo to let

Splash take up that segment if the need is not met by alto but budget is not that much more from an alto.

Estilo , may be some girls would still like to buy that pinkish estilo but its there just to give another option for those different kind of a discerning buyer who is not happy with anything else ( I don't see why they need to be catered to though, should be a Maruti idea)and sure spoiling Zen's name.

Swift is for the premium hatch segment.

Versa is a van but as long as omni is around and can do the same job versa will hardly find takers but say omni can't meet standards and has to be phased out of the rural locations as well, this will be the one that fills in for all those bakery's,sweet shops and eateries that need to move their goods with in a 20 KM radius and those who have larger number of people to move around for short hauls but their budget cant stretch nearer bolero/xylo territory.

So Suzuki is doing fine with their line up except for the estilo the odd ball, may be they could add an automatic to it to make it more salable( wagon -R has it so just plonk the auto gear in there, no changes needed and sell it to the girls. Its the dealer's who need to find the space to do justice to each and a way to get their sales folks to figure out what a customer is after.

[travelwriter]

Maruti has always been delivering products at the lower end of the spectrum with a 'chalta hai' quality. Good quality but not the 'fine' varities that you drool over. (Exception is Baleno but then it wasn't promoted heavily at all)

Its strategy has been to consistently bombard prospects with various options at a small price band that binds the customer to the Maruti showroom.

Within a price band of 2 lakhs, Maruti offers at least 3 different designs, features and value. The one key difference Maruti;s strategy has is of branding. All the designs are branded differently (which I feel is a waste of money in the Indian market).

To that extent, I agree with the 'crowding out' comment that one member made.

I do not agree that this will be a successful strategy, though. Crowding out usually results in cannibalisation of your existing brands, something we are seeing in Dzire Vs SX4. Versa also lost out because of this.

Will this sound the death knell for other Maruti brands? I don't think so. Maruti has never axed any product which has given them even a 0.1% net revenue. They give more importance to customer market share, I think.

Given that a majority of the Indian target group lies in this segment, it is a clever, albeit expensive, ploy to garner market share.

Comments, please

[avishar]

Honda and Toyota has been promising us a hatchback ever since maruti had only the 2 hatchbacks.Now they have 9 and the two japs have none.They should learn something from Maruti.

[ScorpMan]

[quote=jkdas;1244746]I dont think the diesel will be out now as they can manufacture only 2500 diesel engines a month.

If they are producing only 2500 DDi-S per month, than from where are they getting rest of the engines? Swift+Dzire are selling above 10k cars per month, and IMO 70% of the sales are for DDi-S. I've also been waiting for the SX4 DDi-S for the past 1.5 years. I don't know when will Maurti raise curtains on this one.

[aaggoswami]

There is going to be a lot of overlap. But the customer who enters the Maruti showroom will have one or other thing to suit the his/her requirement. This has been the strategy. Maruti also boldly stated that they are not afraid of one product eating into another if their overall sales remain good.

Swift DDiS and Ritz DDiS, I dont know where will they be placed. Till now the overlap was not this high. The last time there was such a serious overlap it was 5-speed M800 and 800cc Alto. 5-Speed 800 ( the best 800 ) was stopped. Maruti is again nearing that end point with Swift. IIRC, Swift will be coming with 1.2 ltr mill instead of 1.3 for tax benefits, however I think this move is for the emession norms. So more overlap between Swift and Ritz. Maruti will not stop Wagon R as it selling quite well and has a certain brand following.

The things will get even more complicated once the updated ( expected ) Estilo comes in. And then for the emession norms the entire range will have K series motors.

@vineethvazhayil : Which manufacturer provides a real sports variant under the name of sports edition ? NONE.

[Mpower]

The Ritz is for someone who is looking for a logical upgrade from a WagonR. The types who view roominess, functionality and ergonomics over style. Call it a grown up WagonR if you will. i10 better watch out.

[ScorpMan]

I saw the Splash aka RITZ at the Expo last year, in Pearl White Color and IMO it is the BEST looking hatch in the market. I hope Maruti will spoil us with all the versions this time, aka L, V and Z in both petrol and diesel.

[evo]

A little irrelevant, but Splash is so much better than Ritz.

After the Dzire, Maruti is becoming more cheap banquet hall types in its nomenclature.

[Aston.Martin]

hey can anyone post some pictures of the Ritz.