Maruti Suzuki India Limited, the country's largest passenger car maker, has stopped the production of its Estilo hatchback in the domestic auto market. Sources close to the development process revealed that the auto maker came up with this move owing to the poor demand for the model. The average monthly sales for the model stood at 645 units during the last six months, which ultimately forced Maruti Suzuki to discontinue the model.
Interestingly, Estilo was introduced as a replacement for the Zen model in 2007. Featuring a tall boy design, the model was launched in India after it was discontinued in the Japanese auto market. Since its launch in the Indian auto market, reports suggest that, Estilo struggled to come up as a worthy model for Maruti Suzuki and potentially replace the success of Zen. Owing to its unfavourable success in the country, the auto maker introduced a reworked model of Estilo in 2009 and replaced its 1.1-litre engine with the performance oriented 1.0-litre K-Series petrol powertrain. However, the model was unable to carve a niche among the Indian buyers.
As of now, Maruti Suzuki is offering the model with some luring discounts worth Rs. 35,000 to Rs. 50,000, depending on the state where the buyer is located. Auto analysts are of a view that some more freebies and goodies can be expected from the country's largest passenger car maker in the coming days as Maruti Suzuki will be looking ahead to clear its inventory at the earliest. It must be noted that the auto maker already has four models in the B1 segment, including the recently introduced Stingray.
Another slow performer in the respective segment is A-Star, which is also not performing well among the Indian buyers. On this recent development by Maruti Suzuki in India, industry experts are of a view that Estilo happens to be the third hatchback, which has been discontinued in this year.
