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AFAIK - Maruti sells Grand Vitara only through Nexa dealerships and the number of Nexa showrooms are 200+. Regarding Toyota - There is no display vehicle till date after 3+ months of Unveil, price announcement at Ravindu Toyota on Outer ring road which is just 50+ KMs away from Toyota factory where the Grand Vitara is manufactured.

OT but Ravindu Toyota ORR has received display vehicle yesterday.

You are right - I should have been more judicious in my use of the dealer count stat for Maruti Suzuki - Nexa showrooms are only numbering around 380.

What it doesn’t take away is that the Maruti dealers are clearly more hungry (or have better processes) than the Toyota ones. It’s a point of frustration that I have felt as well (in Chennai) that Toyota dealers aren’t giving this product their best attention. I am half afraid this is going to the Toyota experience on this car (maybe others can opine on the Glanza experience given that is based on the Maruti platform as well)The dealers seem to be focusing on Innova (petrol) and the Fortuner primarily.

Grand Vitara garners 60,000 bookings.

- Deliveries to customer began on 26th sept.
- Delivers ~ 4800 units in Sept. sales
- 800 units of the deliveries are of Strong Hybrid (18% of volumes)
- 40% of its bookings are for Strong Hybrid
- Brezza becomes the segment topper for Sept. selling 15,445 units
- Maret share increases to 41.7%


Link

Nexa Baner is yet to even get a strong hybrid test vehicle and other cities are getting deliveries?

Visited 3 Nexa showrooms in Baner area and none of them had any strong hybrids on display. They have mild hybrids but not available for test drives yet. However customer deliveries for mild hybrids have started and Nexa My Car Wakad have a few mild hybrid vehicles in stock with immediate availability due to few cancellations. For sure I know that they have a blue and white alpha variant available and a grey Sigma variant and few others. In case anyone is interested in immediate delivery they can visit My Car Wakad, Pune.

The general direction rear suspension layout took since the last 2 decades was to replace independent rear with simple cheap torsion beam layout in hatches and sedans, but I expected the AWD version to have an independent rear like the Duster AWD.

Similarities start and end with the chrome letters on the boot, sad but true.

The previous Grand Vitara and its predecessor was designed when Suzuki was at its peak and from then on has been on an inverse kizashi*. Features and looks sell what is under and invisible does not. Old GV/Kizashi (the car) is the last of its kind from Suzuki and the best Suzuki did as on date**.


* Kizashi word meaning - something great is coming!
** Current Jimny too!! Forgot about the little wonder.

Maruti Grand Vitara Mild Hybrid and Strong Hybrid Fuel Efficiency - Claimed vs Tested



Source

I just cancelled my pre-booking of Grand Vitara and I see a cancellation charge of Rs. 500/- in the acknowledgement. Is the cancellation charge applicable for pre-bookings? Has anyone faced a similar issue at the time of cancellation? I have dropped a mail to customer care for clarification.

I recently canceled my Brezza booking and can confirm that there is a cancellation charge of Rs 500 that was levied.

Today I have visited the Nexa Bhandup, Mumbai to experience the Grand Vitara strong hybrid. But they had only the smart hybrid version available for test drive. As per SA, they are yet to receive a strong hybrid version.

SA mentioned that the strong hybrid will have all black interiors, heads up display and slightly blackened chrome bar on front as key differentiators vs the smart hybrid version.

As per the price chart, Sigma+ OTR is approx. 21L and Alpha+ is 22.77L. What you get for approx. 1.8L is 360 cam, ventilated seats, branded audio system and TPMS. I did not find the price difference justifiable enough.

Overall test drive impressions -
1. Seating position is higher than I expected. Offers a commanding view.
2. 6 speed AT is butter smooth, I could not detect gear shifts
3. Enough power to keep up with traffic in city driving conditions. Drivability is very good. SA did not allow me to take the car to the highway, hence could not test highway performance and manners.
4. My son was surprised that people are not paying attention to this brand-new vehicle. Clearly not a head turner.
5. Car looks big from outside but cramped inside. We currently drive an i10 and we want a bigger car, not from just outside.
6. Wife gave a thumps down to this car. She did not feel that that car is offering enough space or comfort for the money it is asking.

I had high hopes on this car, but I am unimpressed now. I can't buy a 23L car just for fuel efficiency.

On pre booking if they are asking for cancellation charge then you can mail Maruti. And if comfortable file a case against in consumer court if they don't return your 500.
It's pre booking charge ment to be returned in full. They cannot charge us on pre booking similarly we cannot charge them interest on the money that they have holded on for so long.

Thanks for the post. Informative to me that this can be challenged. Is there an established precedence that can be leveraged?

I have seen Maruti (and other) dealers typically get the customer to sign a booking agreement / establish documentation confirming booking once booking officially begins. In this case, would the full refund of the pre-booking charge hold legally?

I had booked online and then cancelled also online. No charges levied, entire 11K received back.

Thanks for the update. Did you cancel after the price reveal or earlier? At the time of cancellation, the following message was displayed...

Cancellation charges (Of Rs 500) on customer will be applicable for booking done from the date of Launch (after price reveal) of the vehicle.

This clearly says that Rs. 500/- will be charged for bookings done after the price reveal. Since mine was pre-booking, I think am eligible for a complete refund. Anyway, I will wait for the response from Maruti Customer Care.