While Maruti Suzuki rules the Indian car industry, it is planning to increase its lead over the competition by bringing in more products. As per a recent report published on Autocar Professional, Maruti foresees a higher demand for diesel cars and is hence investing in it big time.
Apart from that, the more interesting news bit that this snippet carries is the launch of two SUVs. The first of which is to come out in the first half of 2015 and is definitely the S-CROSS, a crossover based on the now discontinued mid-size sedan SX4 and Maruti has already been caught testing it here in India.
The second SUV, as per the report is scheduled to hit the roads in the first half of 2016. The report doesn’t specifically mention the car but it has to be the XA Alpha, which the company showcased long back during the 2012 Auto Expo in Delhi. While Ford and Renault are enjoying some good sales figures thanks to the EcoSport and Duster respectively, others are about to venture into this segment within a few months.
Maruti is, for some reason, a laggard in this space and does not have any product in the compact SUV segment currently. In fact, the only SUV/crossover in its entire line-up, the Grand Vitara failed to put up any kind of show in the market.
Maruti has set a sales target of 3 lakh cars a year by 2017, by when its new plant, coming up in Gujarat, will be operational. The company is known for their petrol cars and is now planning to spread its wings in the diesel car category.
2016 is still a long time away and there is no real reason why is Maruti delaying the launch of a car which created quite a stir back in 2012. XA-Alpha concept was a 4 meter long compact SUV and will definitely be powered by the 1.3L DDIS diesel engine whereas we can not really comment with conviction on its petrol engine at this moment. Considering that it will be a ‘small’ car, we expect it to get Swift’s 1.2L K-Series motor.
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