Maruti’s SUV product portfolio wholesale started to decline during the 2023 festive season, mostly due to the fall in sales of the Jimny and Fronx.

BHPian pqr recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

2023: Maruti lost the #1 SUV rank in just 2 months

After showcasing Fronx and Jimny at the January 2023 Auto Expo, wholesale dispatch of Fronx started in April 2023; this was followed by Jimny in June, and Maruti steadily climbed to the #1 position in the Indian SUV market by July, with a 25% SUV market share.

Maruti was able to retain the #1 position in August as well, with a 24% share; however, from September onwards, Maruti’s SUV product portfolio wholesale started to decline during the festive season, mostly due to the fall in sales of Jimny and Fronx. By November, Maruti’s SUV ranking dropped to #4, just behind Mahindra, Tata, and Hyundai. Besides Brezza AT, every other model carries some discount in December 2023.

With a wider SUV product portfolio and new production capacity going on-stream, Mahindra regained the top spot from Maruti in September, at the beginning of the festive season.

Don't count your chickens until they are hatched.

Source

What is startling is the desperation shown by Maruti in claiming the #1 position in the SUV market through this expensive ad campaign. Which has now gone down the drain.

With Jimny’s positioning fiasco, it's high time for Maruti to do some soul-searching for its SUV product portfolio to achieve sustainability in the long term, as SUV and MUV body styles are only future markets; the rest will diminish over time.

Here's what GTO had to say about the matter:

Surprised to see such loud claims from Maruti when:

• India moved to SUVs & Maruti completely missed the boat in the initial years. They were late to the party and till date, don't have any SUV / Crossover that we can call the "segment best".
• They actually have just two SUVs, the Jimny & Grand Vitara Hybrid. The Brezza is really a raised hatchback, while the Fronx....amazing car, but not an SUV.
• If Maruti wants to continue misleading, why not include the S-Presso too? Maruti has marketed the car as a "Mini SUV".
• All their SUVs & Crossovers are targeting the lower end of the market or their respective segments. Hardly anything to be proud of.
• Maruti simply doesn't have a solid product loaded with tech that can match the Creta / Seltos, XUV700, Safari & gang.
• Fact is, Maruti doesn't know how to engineer a car costing over 15-lakh rupees. They can build you a cheap hatchback or sub-4 meter sedan, but a game-changer SUV for 25-lakh rupees? No knowledge at all. It's like telling a plywood manufacturer to build you a TV.
• Forget turbo-charged petrol engines, Maruti's biggest motor is a boring 1.5L NA petrol that feels like 1990. Forget dual-clutch ATs or CVTs, Maruti still has an AT gearbox from the 90s on sale. Forget EVs, they had to beg & borrow the hybrid tech from Toyota.
• Build your R&D capability, Maruti. Else you will have to stay content with hand-me-down tech from Toyota which will come slow, almost like drip-feeding.

Here's what BHPian coldice4u had to say about the matter:

They can make all the claims, all the ads, present all the stats. But that Fronx ain't even remotely an SUV by a very very long shot!

On second thoughts, I  wonder why they did not add the Ignis and S-Presso numbers.

Here's what BHPian bijims had to say about the matter:

Mahindra is the only major player to have true SUVs in the market under a reasonable price band that sell well, the rest don't even offer RWD (whereas Mahindra has cars that offer AWD, 4X4, and Body on-frame chassis). The only exceptions are the Jimny and the Grand Vitara AWD, whose sales are not much to talk about.

When just comparing SUV body style and high ground clearance, every maker has one or the other car in this segment. So Mahindra getting back the crown of number one SUV maker in India is no surprise.

Here's what BHPian Fuldagap had to say about the matter:

I log on to TBHP at least twice daily. Straightaway I click on the "Hot Threads" link and I see at least 2 threads on the Jimny among those. It might not be doing the sales numbers as expected but it sure has been keeping momentum on TBHP.

Maruti cars are no-nonsense cars, fuss-free and after the initial euphoria of owning a new car is over, which in my opinion 3-4 months or so, their products last a lifetime. This seems mostly true for first-time buyers, which are a lot in our country.

Some of their cars are even fun to drive. Ignis or the Swift for example have been perfect for my solo but long drives on Indian roads and weather conditions. Never faced any issues and travelled with zero fear of anything going wrong or the associated aftermath if anything does go wrong.

The Ertiga was never to my liking but once I drove it many years back, it was a clear winner for long drives with a bunch of people.

A probable Ignis with 4x4 can take on most tarmacs on long drives is what I have always felt. Spectacular little car.

A 2nd additional car in the family or in somebody's garage might or might not be a Maruti but the masses still bank upon their products.

I wish Maruti one day is able to break the 15 lakh price barrier and change its perceived image among people in general. To maintain the number one spot in terms of sales for so many decades is a feat quite difficult to manage even for much bigger companies than Maruti. I am sure the R&D and associated management must be on their toes all the time to give the country the current line up of their products.

I never thought that they would launch the Jimny for real anytime here but they did, even if it was too late as per enthusiasts' hopes. It possibly marks a change in their perception of the market today and maybe just maybe we would see better SUVs here in the future from them.

Whether the Toyota-Maruti partnership makes up for a good or bad case study a decade from now is yet to be seen. Homegrown companies like Tata are giving the much deserved flavour to the market not to mention stiff competition to Maruti in almost all segments.

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They tried to use the Alto K10 engine oil filter. This happens every time I get my car serviced.

BHPian vivek2652 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

5th year (PMS 50) service done on my Baleno:

KMS on the ODO: 30,553

Description of parts changed

• Engine Oil 0w20 Castrol
• Oil filter
• Drain plug gasket

Total bill amount: 2,982 (I was able to get a 15% discount on labour charges)

Few observations regarding the service

• Is the engine oil capacity for Baleno 3.1 Litres? (they charged for 3.2L )
• They were changing the oil filter with a K10 filter and I asked them to use only the K00 oil filter which has 8 holes in it. (This happens every time I get the car serviced. Does this make a difference?)
• The only issue I faced was rear washer was not working which was promptly fixed by a technician.
• I told them to rotate the tyres since the car was on the lift.
• SA recommended injector cleaning which I refused. Was that necessary?
• I did a mini DIY by changing the rear wiper blade rubber from one of the old front blades. (changed only the rubber part)

DIY pending

• All door/hinges greasing.
• Caliper pin greasing.

This is how the car looks after the service.

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During the trip, the AC was always kept on & we used the cruise control for 95% of the time.

BHPian RSMM recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I want to share about the fuel economy of my new Ertiga 2022 Automatic.

I have Pearl White New Ertiga 2022, ZXi+ Automatic, bought in November 2022. Recently I did a lap from Bangalore to Mysore on the new expressway NH275 (yet to be inaugurated).

Prior to this trip, I verified the fuel consumption as displayed on the MID to tank full method. I have observed that the MID reading is very close to the tank-to-tank method. Maximum variation I have observed is 1 km.

During this trip, I did a tank full of regular Petrol at Indian Oil. I reset the MID before the trip started. Here are the trip details and a picture showing the MID reading after completing 125 km.

• Persons travelled: 2
• Boot: fully loaded with 3rd row folded
• Tyre pressure: All 4 set at 30PSI
• 95% of the trip using Cruise control set at 90Km/h (max on this highway is 100Km/h)
• 100% time AC on, set at comfortable 25C in Auto mode

Maruti Suzuki claimed mileage for this model is 20.3Km/L

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For me it didn’t make sense to pay an additional 60,000/- and bring home accessories that I didn't need in the first place.

BHPian antony.henry recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

We all have been through situations where you look forward to something, you count the number of days, you dream about what you would be doing when you get there, how you treat the situation, .. etc etc. and in the end it just didn’t happen and it all becomes a huge disappointment.

Well something like that is what has happened to my Grand Vitara booking!

June ‘22:

I had to sell my much beloved global Fiesta DCT.

July ‘22:

After much slicing and dicing, the Grand Vitara seemed like an option and I booked the car on the very first day. After that it's been a long wait game with Maruti / Toyota taking their sweet time with announcing price, getting demo car, getting TD car . Each of those delays were a test of patience.

September ‘22:

Eventually, the price was announced and having booked the Hybrid, I was disappointed with the 50k premium on ex-showroom ( which will turn out to be 65K difference OTR ). Along with this came the offer of extended warranty and accessory. Which equates to a value of 67K (33k for EW, 34 for accessory). Now, I was not happy with the arrangement . 33K for EW, (Toyota comes with 3 years warranty by default and you need to pay just 20K for similar warranty with more coverage on mileage).

That was still fine, but the accessory pack, at least 20 - 25k worth of those accessories, was something that I didn't need in the first place.Why should I take those interior styling kits and exterior chrome bits if I'm not going to use them ? So I did talk to SA and I was told that I could replace those accessories with something I would like to have. For instance, roof rails, which I could use when compared to something like interior styling kits. SA said it's not a problem and they can do that when I take the delivery.

November ‘22:

Fast forward, the car arrived and I went for PDI. SA wasn’t there and his manager handled us on that day. All was going fine and I talked about accessories and from there everything was going bad. His manager clearly said on the face that it's not possible and they can’t do anything. When asked about the promise by SA he said it's because SA is not aware of this.

After a lengthy discussion I was told it's decided by the accessory team and they will get back after discussing with them. Waited 24 hrs and no one called back. Up until that point dealership was following up the balance payment, bank details and all that but once this discussion was over, absolute silence!

The response was more like, “This is what we have, take it or leave it”.

For me it didn’t make sense to pay an additional 60,000/- and bring home accessories that I didn't need in the first place. Nor did I have the time to put those on OLX and get money so that i could spend it on things i want. So I went ahead and canceled the booking. I also did raise a complaint with Nexa and the only good part that happened with raising complaining was a quick refund of the whole 1,11,000/- .

To sum it up, my disappointment is two part:

• Disappointed with Maruti. Felt like they just wanted to pretend as if they were giving benefits.
• Disappointed with the dealer on how they handled this. They were at fault for passing on wrong information and they won’t take responsibility for it. So I'm the only one at loss here. Lost my time waiting for something which I wouldn't have waited for in the first place if the price difference is not justified.

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