[InControl]

I own a Ritz Genus VXi and have voted a NO.
Make no mistake, its a fantastic car but the market has simply moved on now.
I10 grand has taken the game away from Ritz.
The dwindling sales number are indicative of the same fact.
Ritz Ingress, Egress , roominess are plus points but the Grand owns it in ride quality department, also the handling because of its low height.Ritz after all shows up that it is a tallboy while doing corners.The rear bouncy bench doesnt help much along with cramped rear legroom.

We bought the car in Nov 2010 and frankly speaking there were very few competitors then, Gem of a Kseries engine, Dad 's preference to Ritz for its riding position sealed the deal.We all liked the looks as the front looked like a big car and big rear boomerang tails looked nice. It was our only choice after taking test rides of all cars ( Figo , I10, I20, Swift , Alto K10 among others)
But , like I said before , today the market has moved on.

[holysmoke]

I own one, and we love it.

Powerful, frugal, cheap to maintain. A perfect no-nonsense car for us. Works very well as a daily runner.

[prakhar1998]

Well, the true reason why the Ritz couldn't make a great impact was because the mindset of the Indian public. We believe that if a thing sells in large numbers, it ought to be the best. While this philosophy may work very often, it fails at some places. In this situation, I believe that it all comes down to the usage of your car. The Swifts ride and handling are more on the sportier side, this means that it is better for spirited driving. The Ritz on the other hand has a very settling and comfortable suspension setup. The Swift seems more like a young Indians choice and the Ritz the family man's. Both ways, these cars are very capable and Kudos to Maruti!

[Prafful_Rathod]

I think Ritz can not be called as a failure.

In first four years i.e. from 2009-10 to 2012-13 the Avg monthly sale of Ritz has been around 5000 units, which is better than some of the successful hatchbacks of other manufacturer. It is just that Swift on other hand has performed extremely well and as per Maruti standards, people start feeling that Rtiz has not done well.

[deepclutch]

Ritz diesels are selling in average numbers in my region although dwindling sales are reported from a year or so nationally.

I imagine Maruti will want to fix the rear hatch area for a better appeal visually make the car look bigger also, so as to recapture some of the market that has eaten up by grand i10.

[rnidumolu]

I have vote No.

For me this is a gem of car, but Swift has taken away its glory. The average sales figures were a bit healthy till Swift was not available off the shelf. Now with Swifts ready availability and changed dynamics in the market have pushed this to the loser's side. If you seriously compare this with other competitors(read as Figo, Liva, Sail-UVA), this is a bit costly too. In my perception, the face-lift also has damaged the looks.

Thanks

[srikanthns]

I would like to echo what is already told in this thread. That is sales numbers alone does not dictate whether the car is good. But if the Glitz is sales numbers, then it is a firm "NO". But I may digress from the title, but whatever is selling in high numbers need not always be good (no offence to the other owners of high selling cars).
I would like to draw an analogy here. Just because 95% of the users use it, WINDOWS is not a good OS. Because less than 2% use it , GNU/Linux is not a bad OS.

[zenren]

IMO, Ritz is doing a perfect job as far as Maruti is concerned.

5-6k per month for a model is a figure that any other manufacturer would be happy about including Hyundai. For most of them, it is the number for their best seller. Having two exceptional products immediately above (Swift) and below (Wagon R) makes Ritz a difficult product to sell for a Maruti dealer. They cannot criticize WR too much in front of a potential Ritz customer (as it would be quoted later) and cannot say Ritz is better than the higher priced Swift.

If Ritz was a more likeable product, we would have probably seen it sell around the 10k mark every month but that would have mostly meant a proportional cut from the numbers of Swift and Wagon R rather than from competition. Hyundai is going to see this soon with the Grand i10 eating away from i10 and i20 numbers.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by zenren

IMO, Ritz is doing a perfect job as far as Maruti is concerned.

5-6k per month for a model is a figure that any other manufacturer would be happy about including Hyundai. For most of them, it is the number for their best seller. Having two exceptional products immediately above (Swift) and below (Wagon R) makes Ritz a difficult product to sell for a Maruti dealer. They cannot criticize WR too much in front of a potential Ritz customer (as it would be quoted later) and cannot say Ritz is better than the higher priced Swift.

If Ritz was a more likeable product, we would have probably seen it sell around the 10k mark every month but that would have mostly meant a proportional cut from the numbers of Swift and Wagon R rather than from competition. Hyundai is going to see this soon with the Grand i10 eating away from i10 and i20 numbers.

Absolutely agree with you here regarding the Ritz. It is not that a likeable product as it should have been thanks to it's odd ball shape (rear-end). People are buying this due to lack/unavailability of the Swift though the thing I say is say an year back when waiting periods were high for the Swift. The design and certain lack of appeal has not got good sales number to that car. And as you said the Ritz is more of a sandwich between the WagonR and the Swift.

Shall not even think of comparing the Ritz with the Hyundai per say on Quality and features.

Just adding a screenshot of the sales figures from January to December, 2013 of the Ritz alone (figures include Petrol and Diesel).



I have owned the Ritz VDi for 3 years and 3 days covering 1+ lac kms without a single glitch or embarrassment. An understated car that does the job for what it is designed for. Just take car of it and it takes care of you very well.

Anurag.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

Just adding a screenshot of the sales figures from January to December, 2013 of the Ritz alone (figures include Petrol and Diesel).

Attachment 1191402

Thanks Anurag for the Ritz graph, I was somehow under the false impression that it still sold 3-4k. Going below 2k is definitely not a good sign for the model. However, would Maruti be worried about it? Clearly no, since none of the competition gained with the drop in Ritz sales. All those customers went for the Swift which means they didn't lose anything.



So I don't see any reason why Maruti should revive Ritz sales now when they are bleeding in the mini-SUV and full size sedan segments. Celerio and new SX4 are rightly the segments that will get them new customers because a good product in those segments will eat away from competition's pie rather than their own.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by zenren

I was somehow under the false impression that it still sold 3-4k. Going below 2k is definitely not a good sign for the model. However, would Maruti be worried about it? Clearly no, since none of the competition gained with the drop in Ritz sales. All those customers went for the Swift which means they didn't lose anything.

As you were in that false impression even I was regarding the sales figures. I remember a normal 3.5-4K sales figure but when I prepared that graph was in shock myself thinking how I missed it earlier.

Be it Ritz/Swift, Maruti is happy as long as cars move out. They are not much bothered to focus one car.

Anurag

[Caffeinated]

Voted NO ! I feel that this car deserved lot more sales numbers than its actually achieving today, primary factor being the rear looks.

Maruti missed out an opportunity in amending the rear-looks of the Ritz in its face-lifted version, which should have contributed to more sales. If and when they do a rear-lift, might be too late.

[romeomidhun]

Voted "NO" - just because barring its looks, with its practicality and fuel efficiency, it should have sold more than the current 2 - 3 K levels.

Originally Posted by Caffeinated

Maruti missed out an opportunity in amending the rear-looks of the Ritz in its face-lifted version, which should have contributed to more sales. If and when they do a rear-lift, might be too late.

Internationally, Suzuki is replacing Splash (aka Ritz) and Alto (aka A-Star) by the Celerio. But in India, Celerio will replace Estilo and A-Star.

Size-wise, Celerio is as tall as Ritz and as wide as A-Star, but with more flatter side body panels than Ritz. So, interior space will be as good as Ritz. If Celerio comes with a 1.2L K-series engine, it will be a good cheaper alternative to Ritz.


And its rear much better than expected, and very much better than Ritz!

[aniketi]

I guess Maruti mainly concentrate on their blockbuster cars only like Alto, Swift, Dzire, Wagon R and Ertiga in current market conditions. I hardly see any ads for Ritz or other cars like SX4, A star etc. Showroom guys also mainly focus on their top selling cars. Somehow i have seen that showroom people from Maruti always push Swift and Wagon R the most. Don't know what is the reason behind it. May be they have more commission for those cars

[zenren]

Originally Posted by romeomidhun

If Celerio comes with a 1.2L K-series engine, it will be a good cheaper alternative to Ritz.

Very unlikely to get K12.

Maruti cannot give anything bigger than K12 for Dzire and the upcoming compact SUV (whenever it comes!) due to tax benefits. So they need to ensure that they project K12 as a premium engine and not an entry level engine.

K10 should be more than sufficient for any car smaller than the Swift since they have 800cc car as their entry level and K10 as tier 2. Celerio is certainly not big enough to qualify as a premium hatch. Moreover, the additional cost of K12 engine over K10 would make it difficult for Maruti to give an attractive sticker price for Celerio.