[simply_sunny001]

Maruti is reducing the price of Petrol Swift not DDIS so it doesnt hurt Maruti as well and i hope DDIS will keep selling like hotcakes.

[mohandas]

Anyone knows what gonna happen to Dzire petrol?

Will this also get puny KB12?

How about the price front - will that also be cheaper?

[MurtazaGhiya]

Originally Posted by GTO

One undesirable outcome : Maruti has an innumerable array of hatchbacks in the 3 - 5 lakh segment. Price cuts on cars like the Swift will only lead to higher product overlap. And even more confusion to the potential customer in their showroom.

Also, while I'm all for a cheaper Swift (and cars in general), it doesn't make good business sense. The Swift is a cult car (well, nearly) thanks to its styling, and is the undisputed best-seller from the segment. Its rare to cut the price of a best-selling product. Maruti can continue selling 9,000 Swifts a month at the current MRP, and use price cuts on other cars that need it!

I believe the said price cut on the Swift would be a side effect of the engine downsize. Good for people wanting a good looking, fuel efficient car.

[CoolFire]

I always used to think swift petrol, which uses Maruti's own engines could be priced a little more cheaper, especially compared to DDiS prices. It seems lack of serious competition prevented them from doing this so far. Same was the case with Alto, with volumes multiplying several times since launch.

If Beat and upcoming 800cc spark did it, kudos to GM. Seems Indian auto consumer is in for real good times.

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by mohandas

Anyone knows what gonna happen to Dzire petrol?

Will this also get puny KB12?

How about the price front - will that also be cheaper?

If Maruti plans to use the Ritz's K12B engine in DZire, they will surely chop off the length of DZire and make it under 4 meter for Tax exemption. Hope that will happen and will give some respect to DZire's design.

[erohit]

Well this is on the expected lines. They don't have any new launches for next 2 years and this is the crucial time as new players are coming and they will try to make a dent in the Maruti portfolio. For Maruti, the only way they can maintain/increase the share is by the volume and hence they need to rework their strategy to come out with cheaper variants. They are doing it segment wise segment. Cheaper Alto will replace M800 and in a way get high end customers of nano. They already got cheaper Estilo and will now make reduce wagon R and Swift prices (tax benefits due to K12 engine) to beat the 'beat' and the upcoming new cars like Figo, Polo. This means swift Zxi model will have good features and will be priced way below featured enabled Polo or Punto.
In a way its good move for the new customers. They will have have to buy less and have more options and get benefitted out of this price war.

It started with Nano and GM is taking it further. Now Maruti is joining this war. Hyundai, Honda - are you listening? Fiat can't do anything I know so I am not expecting anything from them.

[SunilM]

Originally Posted by GTO

One undesirable outcome : Maruti has an innumerable array of hatchbacks in the 3 - 5 lakh segment. Price cuts on cars like the Swift will only lead to higher product overlap. And even more confusion to the potential customer in their showroom.

Also, while I'm all for a cheaper Swift (and cars in general), it doesn't make good business sense. The Swift is a cult car (well, nearly) thanks to its styling, and is the undisputed best-seller from the segment. Its rare to cut the price of a best-selling product. Maruti can continue selling 9,000 Swifts a month at the current MRP, and use price cuts on other cars that need it!

Agree.

It makes little business sense to decrease prices when raw material prices are increasing all over. Since Suzuki is not in charity business, they will have to cut corners somewhere. Their interiors are already "not flattering" and most of these range cars go out with minimum luxury features. One can only hope they don’t have cheaper plastics then what they already have and that Suzuki, with this move, will not drag the entire car industry towards "al-chepo" products. That will be a sad outcome. One Nano is enough. Every car need not be minimalistic.
I know many will be celebrating, but we need to look at the long term picture and its effect on the Indian car industry. And then we complain when other car companies try to develop "made for India" (read cheap) cars!

[samsan02]

Originally Posted by romeomidhun

If Maruti plans to use the Ritz's K12B engine in DZire, they will surely chop off the length of DZire and make it under 4 meter for Tax exemption. Hope that will happen and will give some respect to DZire's design.

When you chop of the boot on a Dzire i.e DZire - minus (boot) = Swift
Currently you already get a Swift right !

OR is it now you want Maruti to design a new Dzire (sedan like) under 4000 mm for tax exemption. WOW ! that will be a real stunner.

[LastActionHero]

Will the Swift be still the peppy machine it is with the 1.2 L engine? I think Maruti might be getting ready to bump down Swift a bit and introduce another model with a 1.3 L engine. Remember the Swift is almost 5-6 year old model.

I think we are in for a price war this year in the small car segment. Will be interesting to watch Hyundai and GM's response.

[longhorn]

I think Maruti might offer two engine options on the Swift come April. If the Swift gets the k series 1.2 there could be a price drop in the range of 30k. If they are going to shod it with a G series 1.2 then you can expect a killer price tag way below current Ritz prices. I'm just wondering if they are doing this to bring in newer models (like new WagonR and next gen Swift) at a higher price point in future.

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by samsan02

When you chop of the boot on a Dzire i.e DZire - minus (boot) = Swift
Currently you already get a Swift right !

OR is it now you want Maruti to design a new Dzire (sedan like) under 4000 mm for tax exemption. WOW ! that will be a real stunner.

I wish a DZire with a small boot, that comes under 4m length. I also wish it having a better over-all design.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by LastActionHero

Will the Swift be still the peppy machine it is with the 1.2 L engine? I think Maruti might be getting ready to bump down Swift a bit and introduce another model with a 1.3 L engine. Remember the Swift is almost 5-6 year old model.

I think we are in for a price war this year in the small car segment. Will be interesting to watch Hyundai and GM's response.

Ritz comes with K12M engine that comes below 1200cc. Internationally the engine is available in 1242cc IIRC. Now I read in one of the PDF by Suzuki ( available in global Suzuki website ) that K12B has VVT. In international market, this motor is capable of making upto 89 bhp with VVT. I am not sure if the K12M has VVT or not, but if it doesnt have VVT, then Maruti must put in VVT K12M. This way, the good performance of Swift will not be lost. Else, we might lose a bit. But overall, K12M has much better bottom end as compared to G13BB.

The overall thrust of K12M is not bad, but just that is cant match G13BB for top end performance. For an average car buyer, K12M will not be a performance loss, rather it will be good as its better in bottom end and will give higher FE.

About price war, beat is the one to initiate it. Beat is real low, but somehow I find the car a bit impractical due to its motor which is just not good enough.

[iconic]

If swift can be priced 25K - 30K below the current price, why is Ritz priced on par with swift which already has the K12 engine in it?

Is Ritz a better car than swift http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images...rustration.gif

[romeomidhun]

The new EECO's 1.2L G-Series engine uses some techniques used in K-Series engines to make it BS-IV compliant. The same techniques can be used in the existing F series engines (F8 and F10) also to make it BS-IV ready, I think. Also, Suzuki has a 660CC K-series engine internationally.

So Maruti has got some good ways to reduce the cost of Swift, DZire, Wagon-R and Alto:
In Swift and DZire, they can use the K12 VVT engine. Swift will get the tax exemption also.
In Wagon-R, they can use the EECO 1.2 engine, or a modified F10 engine.
In Alto, they can use a modified F8 engine, or the 660CC K-series engine.

[Equus]

Dropping the price is usually the last option. Something's gotta give, there are no freebies. I am rather wary of it. Would have liked an enhanced M800 rather :(