Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), the country’s largest passenger car maker, is looking to embark on a new challenge of dominating the entire Indian passenger car scene by expanding its current portfolio.
The company can be termed as the undisputed champion of the small car market but its position seems ordinary and lacklustre when it comes to the bigger car segments comprising sedans and utility vehicles. MSIL sales are largely propelled by its compact car line-up of Swift, Alto, WagonR, and Ritz hatchbacks, entry-level DZire sedan and its C-segment offering SX4 saloon also finding average sales.
However, MSIL's latest offering, Ertiga Multi Purpose Vehicle (MPV) became an instant hit owing to the company's brand name and its sole product in the respective segment selling over 20,000 units in the first 5 months post its launch.
Buoyed by the success of Ertiga MPV, MSIL will launch a new spruced up version of its current C-segment offering, the SX4 sedan in the international markets next year. The revamped SX4 saloon is also expected to be available in India sometime in the middle of next year.
Reportedly, MSIL has also announced its plans to commence assembling of its premium Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) Grand Vitara as a completely knocked down (CKD) unit in India by 2014. The SUV is currently available in the country as a completely build unit (CBU) and hence comes at an extravagant price tag. The CKD assembling of Grand Vitara will result in a significant price drop and will put the vehicle in an intense face-off with the Mahindra XUV500 and Skoda Yeti.
Its worth taking note that the price of the vehicle will also be hugely dependent on the valuation of Japanese Yen which currently has taken a massive plunge against the US Dollar. The fluctuations could dictate the prices of Grand Vitara when MSIL starts its CKD assembling in the country.
MSIL has a faithful following in the country and most car owners will surely rejoice at the new development. It would be interesting to note how the Indian audience react to MSIL's upcoming revamped version of SX4 saloon and the CKD assembled Grand Vitara. The company seems to be taking just the right steps in its campaign to be a complete super power in the Indian auto market.
