[DieselAddikt]

I voted for YES. Ritz could slowly but steadily pick up in sales and provided a wonderful alternative for the people who were looking for a big Maruti Hatch. It is well built and the interior feels robust. And most importantly, this car does not rattle. In my personal opinion, Ritz as a whole package is better than Swift.

[srinivasmhn]

Based on my ownership of Ritz VDI for last 8 months and 20K Kms, I would like to mention that have no regrets of buying Ritz. Rear design may be awkward but it will grow on you and people might start liking it.
I was also in the decision to buy only Swift, but the difference of 35K vitamin M made me to look at Ritz, it is value for money compared to Swift.
Swift is selling only because of the resale it carries in the used market, diesel version’ s have high resale value.
If you see the sales of the Ritz for last 1 year the sales are steadily in rise and reached to 6K from around 4.5K. It shows that people have started to give thought to Ritz.
On a whole it is very underrated car and it deserves higher number. The only disadvantage I can see of it has huge blind spots and a person driving Ritz for 1st time will feel uncomfortable.

Voted for "Yes"

[SankalpDesai]

Voted Yes.

Atleast for me the Ritz is a practical roomy hatch from one of the most trusted car manufacturer in India.

Ritz as a car is a tough contender in the mid-level hatch market, the space flooded by the likes of i10, Beat, Ritz, Figo, Indica, etc. I would not go into literal comparison of these cars, as they have been debated numerous times. What I personally feel is the Figo is a one engine wonder. Sure it has the option of 2 Petrol engines, but a sane person with love for cars would opt mostly for the 1.4 Diesel. As compared to that, Ritz features both - a smooth and peppy 1.2 K-series and a 1.3 MJD powerhorse.

Hence the major competition boils down to i10 and Beat. Now the Chevy Beat is radical in its own sweet way. The conclusion I draw is that though these 3 cars are pitted against each other, they mainly appeal to different set of customers. The radical Beat with its futuristic exteriors and interiors (and pricing too) would go for the college going crowd. Nissan Micra has been able to make some impact there and so has the Beat.

Ritz with its peace-of-mind ownership, thanks to the reach of Maruti across the country, has appealed to buyers with a 2+2+2 family (self & wife/husband + 2 small kids + parents). Its spacious, entry-exit is far too comfortable, tall boy design with lots of green house and assurance of Maruti's service network.

Hyundai i10 is a surprise here. i10 seems to have hit the heart of those who are newly married / are getting married and would want there wives to drive the car too. With just 2 engine options, that too only Petrol, its a little odd to see i10 going home in such huge numbers.

I belong to that very SMALL group of people who prefer the looks of Ritz over i10. Sure, the quality of plastics in the i10 is better than the Ritz, but its stiff and rough, which doesn't appeal to my heart. Also the K series is better than the Kappa, Maruti service and parts have greater availibility than Hyundai, etc. etc.

So there it is. The Ritz with some modifications to its rear and better features thrown in - especially a genuine top end diesel - and aggressive pricing, would be my first choice ANY DAY.

[akshay_ritz]

Wow this debate is hotting up. Ritz seems to be the a car that can generate a lot of opinions. We seem to be assuming Maruti's intentions and rating the success of the car based on them. I personally am surprised that in a market where the Ritz is stuffed between the Swift and the Wagon R, where Figo, Polo, Fabia, i 10, i 20, and Punto are competing, its selling these numbers.

Just to gain some perspective Ford Figo 7,883, Punto : 1082, i20 : 6,834, Fabia : 1466, i20 : 6,834. Finally Ritz : 5882 sandwiched between WagonR : 14131 and Swift : 10936.

The very fact that that they are able to sell these numbers for the Ritz is amazing. Its not a Maruti's premium hatch like i 10 is for Hyundai. It does not have the wow factor of Hyundai's i 20 (nor the rattles) and it does not have the freshness of Ford Figo for people who have gotten bored of the Maruti stable.

What is has is a wonderful 1.2 L engine, an AC that can Chill you when the temperature outside is 40 and a huge sense of space inside the car. The body roll is significant but that's not a major issue for me. A car that allows me to be at 5KMps at 2nd gear, with a noiseless engine is a good deal.

Maruti's logic for the bringing the Ritz in India is not clear and your guess is as good as mine. Do i like my Ritz Zxi, Ohh yes i do. Will I trade it for an i 10 Asta. Of course not. Asta was 40K more expensive when i bought it and did not have alloys on that pint sized tires it came in. Will I trade it for a Swift. Definitely not. I love the space inside the Ritz. The Swift is too cramped. Will I trade if for an Honda Jazz. Oh my god yes. Any Jazz owners up for this offer?

[SANSI]

Originally Posted by misquitas

So, you would mean to suggest that the Ritz has not really live up to its glitz (expectations)? Then you would have voted 'No'.

I voted Yes since it has lived up to the expectations in terms of ownership. In terms of sales, No it deserves more.

[yogeshnaik]

The Ritz is a good car compared to i10 and other hatches within that range. I vote for Ritz since its has good airy interiors and a class of modern equipments. But lacks rear space. Some people dislike the shape. Although this car shares the same platform as of Swift, people still like Swift. Need to see how the generation 2 Swift will have to offer.

[Ohh!Oxygen]

In my opinion, Maruti has stuck gold with Ritz!

Part 1:
Just imagine the pre Ritz scenario, it was Swift all over. Swift taught Indians what a premium hatchback is. It is always overbooked since its inception more than 6 yrs back.

Part 2 :Upgrades!

We really need upgrades(cosmetics/performance) to keep the sales rolling in market(remember how Indica's fortune changed with V2). After Swifts A2's from every manufacturer started flooding the market. Maruti faces competition.

What about upgrades to Swift?
Does Maruti ever needed one?
If they do one how much boost they are gonna get in sales?

Solution :

Here comes the fix.

Use the same Swift framework, minor changes here and there.
Same tweaks as they have done with Swift when they brought it to India.
Try to give it a "bigger" car look.
Address some Swift complaints i.e. easy seating positions, better rear leg room.

Remember Ritz is not a "made for India" car. It has been selling in Japan/Europe as Suzuki and Opel brands.

Outcome :
Voila!

You push 6000 units a month with zero impact on Swift sells. I bet no upgrade to Swift would have fetched these numbers.

Guess what is the bonus? It created a character of its own and became the fastest car in A2 segment to meet 50,000 and 1,00,000 sales figures.

Bangalore is "the" Swift city as Swift's character fits very well to a s/w engineer's tastes and pocket. Now you also see a lot of Ritzs everywhere.

Maruti should be smiling wickedly.

[gpadki]

You have summed it up pretty well. Once you get behind the wheels of Ritz, you cannot hate it, actually you will fall in love with the driveability, seating and quite & powerful engine. I am a proud owner of Ritz Zxi from the past 12 months. Infact one of my friend was deciding between Swift and Ritz, after he TD mine, he booked Ritz the next day.

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

Slowly but surely, people are beginning to appreciate the practicality factor of the Ritz. Our family was initially totally against the Ritz, but after sitting in the car, we were all smitten by it.

Once you sit inside the car, it will change your perception about the car totally. Till the time people sit in the Ritz, they mostly comment on the odd shape. But get inside, and its a different world in there, and it is one of the ergonomically best cars available today. And of course, the K-Series engine is a gem, just floor the accelerator and you get the same kind of adrenaline rush that you experienced in the VTEC OHC!

[tush]

Voted - Yes

@OhhOxygen, you got it right.

Some more marketing and attractive practical TV commercials and Ritz would replicate the same story as WagonR did. People took time to realize the practicality of WagonR. And once people realized its practicality the sales started climbing up. Though boot space remains a concern when we talk about practicality.

[SkyWalker]

No for me.
The car is roomy (compared to other Maruti hatches), but looks weird, and interior quality is not good. Just another car in dozens of Maruti hatches out there.

Swift has a lot more character, and is sportier to drive. For people who want a sporty hatch, its definitely Swift. If its practicality they are looking for, WagonR can at offer it much cheaper price.

[headbanger]

My 2 cents here:

1. There is a fair bit of comparison between Ritz and i10 to drive home the point that Ritz came to hit the growing i10 market. I don't think that this logic is behind the advent of Ritz. So its definitely not Ritz vs i10. The resoning here is a 10k here and there and there is a new car from the stable.

2. A better way to look at point 1 is to see a larger image- hatchback from a budget 3 to 5 lac(ex showroom) and who grabs the larger bite?
Maruti has Swift, Wagon-R, Ritz,Estilo, A-star while Hyundai has Santro and i-10.(You can also have i-20 here for the base version although I feel the sales numbers will be very low for this category)

Add the numbers from the previous months and you get the reason why MSIL will be happy.

Having said that, you need to be in Ritz to feel the car. Easy ingress-egress, terrific engine and possibly the best ergonomics in the category. The sales number show only one side of the game but then every player has a role in the team and 6k number is not a "failure" by any means. I voted "YES".

O.T. Hyundai 1.1 Irde and 1.2 Kappa are as good as 1.0 and 1.2K series from MSIL. But where MSIL beats Hyundai is 1.3MJD. If Hyundai brings in a diesel mill, game is gonna change.

[BheemBoy]

Originally Posted by noopster

What glitz? The car looks like a cow in the middle of a particularly painful delivery if you ask me. The fact that it is a good seller is a tribute to the manufacturer for getting everything else right, and that has precious little to do with glitz. It's a sensible car for sensible people- the kind who would never consider the Swift or i20 because it's too...well, glitzy!

Well Said Noopster.

+ 10 to it. It's design has been debated to death. It's bad. It's awful.
The reason it's selling 6000 - 7000 odd is because of the artificial waiting time for Swift.

I also don't understand one more thing. We all love top performers in any field. Be it Tennis / Football / cinema etc.

Just because the road is full of Swift's, some people say they don't want to consider it. Then it should be the same with I10 also. I haven't seen anyone tell that.

Swift is the golden duck for MUL. I bet it will still sell the same numbers after 5 more years because IT ROCKS.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by BheemBoy

+ 10 to it. It's design has been debated to death. It's bad. It's awful.

It is something you either love or hate! I like it better than Swift.

BTW the swift reminds me of a squatting toad, especially when viewed from the rear!

[dudesam24]

Ritz is an amazing little car.....
It looks like a baby Honda CRV
The diesel is very quick in response to the pedal
The turbo lag kills its surge but afterwards its pure missile
The fuel consumption figures are amazing.....
I am loving it... No regrets for the choice

[ashishy]

Answered No.

My friend bought a Ritz over a Swift just because he did not want to wait for the later. When I sat in the car, just didn't get the feel I would get in any other car. Sure, it is next option if you want a K Series or the best (IMO) Multijet Diesel w/o waiting but I would still not buy the Ritz. I want a car where I feel good after getting in, the feeling that I just don't get with the Ritz.

IMO