Thank you to BHPian Leoshashi for sharing this information with other enthusiasts!

Maruti Suzuki has issued a recall for the Grand Vitara SUV to check for a possible fault in the manual transmission. Over 151 vehicles in the country which were manufactured between June 2008 - May 2013 are suspected to have been impacted by this particular recall.

Dealers across the country have started contacting owners of the affected vehicles for inspection & replacement of the faulty part which would be done free of cost. Owners can also check if their car has been affected or not by filling in their Vehicle Identification Number or Chassis Number (JSA followed by a 14 digit alpha-numeric number) on Maruti Suzuki's website.

The Grand Vitara recall seems to be a part of a global recall as Suzuki has issued the same in the United States, Australia and China. Reports suggest that the strength of the rear shaft may be insufficient and that it may break under particular conditions. This would prevent the driver from shifting gears which is pretty dangerous.

Production of the Kizashi sedan and the Grand Vitara SUV from the Suzuki stable, is rumoured to be ceased permanently. The Grand Vitara was built at Suzuki's Iwata plant while the Kizashi was being manufactured at Sagara in Japan.

Maruti had introduced the Kizashi in India in 2011. Being a CBU, the car wore an inflated price tag, and came with a petrol engine only; hence, it flopped in India.

The Grand Vitara first made its debut in India in 2003 in its XL-7 guise. It came in via the CBU route too and was powered by a 2.7 liter V6 petrol engine with 7 seats. It was much later in 2007 that the company brought in a 2.0 liter Grand Vitara (5-seater), refreshed it in 2009 and added a 2.4 liter petrol engine to it. Not much changed since then, including its poor sales performance in India in comparison to its closest rival - Honda CR-V.

Maruti is now betting big on a slew of launches in the future with an aim to capture 50% of the total market share in India. The new S-Cross (monococue) soft-roader will replace body-on-frame Grand Vitara, when introduced in 2015.

Source: just-auto

Petrol cars and SUVs are finding few takers in the diesel-happy Indian market. The poor sales of petrol engined cars in the higher segments of the Indian car market has meant that many automakers operating in the luxury space are turning to diesel-only models. This strategy is especially true of the SUV segment, in which there is an overwhelming preference towards diesel engined models. This lack in demand for petrol powered cars and SUVs has resulted in car makers discontinuing many petrol-only cars.

Note: Images used in this report are that of the facelifted Suzuki Escudo, known as the Grand Vitara here. 

A few examples that spring to mind are the recently discontinued Mitsubishi Cedia sedan and Outlander SUV, and the Maruti Suzuki Kizashi sedan. A scoop on MotorBeam suggests that Maruti Suzuki has discontinued the Grand Vitara, a petrol-only SUV imported through the completely built unit (CBU) route. The 5 seat Grand Vitara's price rivals that of diesel engined SUVs due to importing through the CBU route. The high price has meant that Maruti Suzuki has sold less than 10 units of the car over the past one year.

The abysmal sales seem to have prompted India's largest carmaker to cull the SUV, as supporting it with spares and service might not be sustainable anymore. The Grand Vitara is powered by a 2.4 liter-4 cylinder petrol engine that outputs 163.5 Bhp of peak power and 225 Nm of peak torque. The engine is available with 5 speed manual and 4 speed automatic gearbox options. The SUV comes with a full time 4 wheel drive mode that features a center locking differential.

Internationally, the Grand Vitara is available with a Fiat Multijet 1.9 liter turbo diesel engine, an option that Maruti Suzuki has never exercised on the India-spec model. The 1.9 liter diesel engine outputs 128 Bhp-300 Nm and could have been the ideal option for a CKD assembled version of the Grand Vitara sold in India. Meanwhile, the Grand Vitara continues to be listed on Maruti Suzuki's website.

The SUV's MT variant is priced at 22.68 lakh rupees while the AT variant is priced at 24.60 lakh rupees, both prices reflecting ex-showroom Delhi figures. Discount hunters are likely to get good deals on left over stock, if any.