Is the country’s leading car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki gearing up to bring back the Omni in its electric avatar and could this give it an edge over rivals in the electric vehicle (EV) space?
The Omni van was the country’s best-selling family car once but the car market in India has transformed to a great extent since then.
About a few months back, some automobile engineering students had prepared a design on how the new Omni van could look, if an electric variant is rolled out.
Maybe, the automobile giant could use these cues if it plans an electric version of the erstwhile van.
It may be so that the new electric Omni van, if rolled out, could have integrated LED daytime running lamps (DRLs) along with a head lamp, fog lamps under the bumper as well as LED indicators. It could also have outside rear view mirrors (ORVMs).
At the same time, the sliding side doors may be retained and the rear portion could come with LED tail lights. The electric Maruti Omni may be a tad sleeker also compared to the petrol variant.
The automaker has not officially come out with any plan to roll out the Omni electric in the near future.
Also, Maruti Suzuki is taking the slow lane so far as pure electric vehicles go. Like Toyota, it will first roll out hybrids and if it sees that the EV market is evolving, it may then go ahead with its electric plans.
It will also ensure that EV batteries are 100 per cent safe before going full throttle on its plans. Some experts in the automobile sector feel that the carmaker could roll out the Omni electric as late as 2030.
We have seen that in India and globally, both two-wheeler companies and four-wheeler makers are converting their best-selling vehicles into electric vehicles.
This is unlike Maruti Suzuki, which is adopting a wait-and-watch policy.
This Maruti Suzuki van will compete with the likes of PMV EaS-E, a micro EV for urban use, where a 48-volt battery has been used.
The EaS-E is powered by a single electric motor, which belts out 13.6 PS of power and 50 Nm of torque. The top speed of the PMV EV is 70 km per hour. It offers the option of three types of range, that is, 120 km, 160 km and 200 km.
The configuration of the new Omni electric could be similar. The starting price of the electric Omni, when launched, could be around Rs 5.5 lakh (Rs 550,000).
E-Vroooom’s view
The Omni, if launched, should cater to the commercial vehicles segment instead of passenger vehicles (PVs) because Indian buyers prefer SUVs in the highly-competitive PV space, and if it is launched in a new avatar as a passenger car, the Omni’s response may not meet the expectations of Maruti Suzuki.
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