India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki, never a believer in the gospel of the coming electric kingdom, has succeeded in crafting, almost single-handedly, the country’s CNG vehicle boom. But, is it also becoming an albatross around the company’s neck?
On Monday afternoon, the Gurugram auto giant launched the latest, fourth generation version of its best-selling sedan, The Maruti Suzuki Dzire. Initially an offshoot of its award-winning premium hatchback Swift, the Dzire had come into its own by selling by the lakhs. Since 2008, when it was launched in the country as the ‘Swift Dzire’, it has sold more than 27 lakh cars in India alone, and millions more around the world under the Suzuki branding.
“Dzire sells more than all the other sedans put together in the country,” said Hisashi Takeuchi, managing director and CEO of Maruti Suzuki.
Hidden in its ‘dazzling’ figures is the issue Maruti is facing — a large chunk of Maruti Dzire ply as taxis. Some estimates put one third of all Maruti sales being for CNG models. The problem with that? The premiumness and ‘desirability’ one associates with a sedan gets whittled down when associated with a dusty, smelly Uber ride you just took.
Maruti’s solution? It intends to target ‘only’ the personal user with the slew of new models it has launched on Monday, with prices starting at Rs 6.79 lakh and going up to Rs 10.14 lakh (introductory rates valid till December 31 only). The three models of the new Dzire in CNG range from Rs 8.74-9.84, but are attractive for their claimed mileage of up nearly 34km for one litre (the max the petrol variant offers is 25km for the automatic variant).
“We will be selling the tour model for shared mobility,” said Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer, sales and marketing of Maruti. Apparently, Maruti’s strategy is to continue selling the older generation Tour S model for fleet operators, alongside the new fourth generation models launched today for personal users.
On the face of it Maruti is happy with the CNG and ‘hybrid’ boom in the country, something of its own making — sales of CNG cars have surged by 46 per cent this year so far. It was a Japanese strategy to go ‘technology agnostic’ and become a follower in the electric bandwagon where China is supreme that spawned hybrids and CNG cars in India (It is another matter that last week it unveiled the e-Vitara, its first electric car for India). But, the question whether these CNG models used on a massive scale by cab aggregators have made ‘Dzire’ downmarket remain unanswered. Or, will the new gen ‘dazzling’ Dzire change the perception once and for all?
