Reference Auto

Maruti Suzuki has finally forayed into the premium segment, with the launch of its luxury sedan Kizashi and has immediately generated a huge number of queries from all across India, indicating that this moderately-priced luxury car could help accelerate the auto giant’s numbers substantially.

The Kizashi would come in two variants: the manual transmission variant will carry a price tag of Rs 16.5 lakh and the automatic transmission version will come for Rs 17.5 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

Prospective buyers can book the Kizashi by depositing Rs 50,000 and deliveries are likely to begin in a month or two.

The Kizashi is propelled by a 2.4 litre DOHC J–Series engine that will offer 178 PS@ 6,500 rpm and the highest torque of 230 Nm @ 4,000 rpm. Maruti Suzuki has said the sedan will come with a fuel efficiency of 12.53 km per litre, which is commendable, considering that it falls in the luxury category.

The car will be available in Snow White Pearl, Super Black Pearl and Premium Silver Metallic colours.

“It is manufactured at Suzuki Motor’s Sagara plant (in Japan) and will be brought to India as a completely built-up unit. After the Kizashi’s launch in Japan in late 2009, the car hit the US roads,” Maruti Suzuki said.

During the launch, Shinzo Nakanishi, managing director and CEO, Maruti Suzuki India, said, “The Kizashi is a gigantic step for Maruti Suzuki. With the roll out of this sedan, Maruti Suzuki is now offering an international car to high-end customers in the country.”

The Kizashi will compete with a gamut of cars such as the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry (in the upper end category) and Honda Civic, Volkswagen Jetta and Toyota Corolla (in the lower end). These cars are priced around the Rs 12-20 lakh-mark.

Speculation was rife that Kizashi will be priced steeply as Maruti had said it will import the car from its parent Suzuki’s plant in Japan. But that has been put to rest.

Maruti Suzuki has captured nearly 50 per cent share in the total Indian car market with sales of a whopping 1.87 million units in 2010.

The car maker has been trying to get into the luxury car segment for some time now. Its first attempt with the Baleno, although a sub-luxury category car, didn’t meet with much success but the company has been able to generate a fair amount of response for its mid-sized sedan SX4, launched in 2007.

For instance in January, Maruti Suzuki sold 978 SX4 SUVs, although a slide of over 15 per cent when compared to the same month last year, while the Baleno has been phased out.

The car giant has been in the limelight for small cars in India and as per its sales, it is the undisputed leader in this category in the country. As per estimates, the size of the luxury car segment in India is over 55,000 units per year.

At least, if the design and the specifications are any indication, the Kizashi does have the look of an elegant luxury liner, although it resembles the SX4 somewhat.

With the Kizashi having a substantial price advantage over cars such as the Honda Accord and Hyundai Sonata, and even the low-end Mercedes-Benz cars, it is likely to maintain Maruti Suzuki’s sales tempo.