Maruti Suzuki India has rolled out the Grand Vitara for between Rs 10.45 lakh (Rs 10,45,000) and Rs 19.65 lakh (Rs 19,65,000), which is a smart pricing strategy, given the popularity of SUVs in India’s auto market and the fast-growing appetite of the country’s car buyers towards hybrids.
With the Grand Vitara launch, India’s largest car maker wants to slow down the adoption of pure electric vehicles (EVs) and is trying to wean away EV buyers towards hybrids.
If — along with pricing — the performance and safety features of the hybrids are commendable, then Maruti could become a formidable player in India’s green vehicles’ space.
Already, the Vitara has received over 50,000 bookings, and this could be a cause for concern for pure EV players like Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M). This high booking number could stretch the waiting period for up to five months.
 |
| The Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara comes in 11 variants. |
The Vitara has a 1.5-litre petrol powertrain combined with either strong or mild hybrid technology. It is slated to slug it out with the likes of Hyundai Creta, Tata Harrier and Kia Seltos.
Maruti Suzuki managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) Hisashi Takeuchi said in a statement that, “The Grand Vitara offers a cleaner, greener and a carbon-neutral world. We have launched it at a competitive price starting Rs 10.45 lakh (Rs 10,45,000).”
The 1.5-litre trims of the mild hybrids that come with five-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission carry price tags of between Rs 10.45 lakh (Rs 10,45,000) and Rs 17.05 lakh (Rs 17,05,000).
Maruti-Suzuki says that these vehicles have a fuel efficiency of 21 km (13.04 miles) to a litre and they offer brake energy regeneration, idle stop-start function and torque assist.
The Grand Vitara Allgrip Select trim offers Suzuki's patented ‘All-Grip’ technology and is priced at Rs 16.89 lakh (Rs 16,89,000). This feature allows the variant to travel in all kinds of terrain and is priced very judiciously.
The 11 variants that are offered with hybrid powertrain are high on fuel efficiency — with up to 27.97 km per litre and come for between 17.99 lakh (Rs 17,99,000) and Rs 19.65 lakh (Rs 19,65,000). These models would be exclusively sold at Maruti’s Nexa outlets.
The Grand Vitara comes with dual-tone colour options in the top-end Alpha, Zeta+ and Alpha+ variants. These cost around Rs 16,000 extra.
The car giant has given an interesting option where the SUV can be owned through Maruti Suzuki Subscribe for a monthly subscription fee that begins from Rs 27,000.
There is a special introductory offer that Maruti Suzuki is giving with the Vitara strong hybrids — an extended warranty of five years or 1,00,000 km.
This is better than the standard two years or 40,000 km. There is also a genuine Nexa accessory pack worth Rs 67,000 on offer.
Compared to the Toyota Hyryder, Maruti’s Grand Vitara (which are siblings) is Rs 20,000 cheaper so far as the mild hybrids are concerned but for strong hybrids the latter costs Rs 50,000 more.
The reason for this is that the mild hybrid tech is from Suzuki while the strong hybrid tech comes from Toyota.
So, we may expect the Grand Vitara to sell more in the mild hybrid space while for the strong type, the Hyryder may turn out to be the winner.
In fact, it’s a win-win for Toyota and Maruti Suzuki as both the Grand Vitara and Hyryder hybrids have been priced smartly compared to EVs and this pricing strategy could see both the SUVs selling well in the Indian market.
No comments:
Post a Comment