Reference Auto

Nowadays, we are witnessing a new trend in the auto market where sales of high-end compact cars like the Swift are booming, dislodging the cheaper models, and may be, this pattern has prompted Maruti Suzuki to bring in the Ertiga, which it launched a few days ago.

High-end hatchbacks like the Hyundai’s i20 and Maruti Suzuki’s Swift have seen sales surpass cheaper compact models of their cars like the Santro and WagonR.

During 2011-12, Swift’s sales burgeoned to over 1.5 lakh units, making it the second-most popular car after the Alto, which sold about 3.08 lakh cars during the same period.

With the Ertiga launch, Maruti is looking to regain 50 per cent share in the car market, which it lost over a year and half ago.

The auto major is now riveting on the swelling sports utility vehicle (SUV) market that accounts for over 6 per cent of the 2.5 million passenger cars sold in the country.

While a major chunk of the market has been taken by SUVs like the Toyota Fortuner and Mahindra XUV 500, India’s top carmaker wants to take lead position in the SUV segment and has priced the Ertiga very aggressively.

The multi-purpose vehicle or MPV (which the Ertiga is also called) has been priced between Rs 5.89 lakh and Rs 8.45 lakh, which is much lower compared with competing cars like the Toyota Innova and Mahindra’s Xylo.

Petrol LXi: Rs 5.89 lakh

Petrol VXi: Rs 6.60 lakh

Petrol ZXi: Rs 7.30 lakh

Diesel LDi: Rs 7.30 lakh

Diesel VDi: Rs 7.90 lakh

Diesel ZDi: Rs 8.45 lakh

The Ertiga has already notched over 10,000 bookings in just five days and could create a milestone in the SUV market in the middle term (say around a year or two). It is based on the same platform as the Swift, which is one of India’s most-popular cars. 

The petrol variant of the Ertiga is propelled by a K-series 1.4 litre engine, which produces 95 PS of power and is believed to deliver a fuel economy of 16 km to a litre.

The diesel engine is the Fiat-sourced 1.3 litre DDiS unit, which is also present in the SX4. The engine produces 90 PS of power and has a mileage of 20 km to a litre. These are pretty good for an SUV.

Maruti Suzuki managing director and CEO S Nakanishi said, “Utility vehicles are a promising segment and Maruti has been largely absent in this space. We are giving our customers the option to upgrade to a new flexible vehicle without limitations of size or flexibility of a sedan.”

Maruti Suzuki’s market share slid by 6 per cent to its lowest level of below 40 per cent even as it rolled out highly-successful cars such as the Swift and the Dzire compact versions.

The Ertiga may not only shake up the SUV market with Maruti’s clever pricing, but in the long-term, is likely to become a contender to its sister car, the Swift, and ride the high-end compact car boom, if the initial response is anything to go by.