For Maruti, variants seem to be flavour of slowdown season

April 22 – Maruti Suzuki seems to be scripting a different way to deal with the crippling slowdown in the Indian car market.

According to a report in the Economic Times, the leading car maker in the country is planning to launch a premium version of its highly successful small car WagonR, named WagonR Stingray.

The sportier Stingray is already launched in Japan and has “a more aggressive frontal styling and masculine cues in the rear”, the ET report said.
Reuters

Is this a deliberate strategy the company is resorting to for beating the slowdown? There are reasons to believe it is.Reuters

The launch is likely to happen in a few months’ time and is expected to get volumes for the carmaker in 2013, the report says.

Is this a deliberate strategy the company is resorting to for beating the slowdown? There are reasons to believe it is.

There have been a slew of re-launches from the company while not much is being talked about roll-out of new cars.

In March, the company launched the SX4, with a few cosmetic changes like reworked front bumper, black and beige interior and turn-indicators on wing mirrors.

The company has also launched a variant of the Dzire, named the Regal and priced Rs 5.95 lakh, to take on Honda’s new Amaze.

It looks like the company is more focussing on launching variants than new cars.

As far as WagonR’s new variant is concerned, the development assumes significance also because there has been a change in consumer preference in Indian auto space in favour of sedans.

A recent report in The Economic Times said because of this trend consumers moving away from small cars such as the Nano and Alto.

Maruti Swift and DZire, Mahindra Bolero, Toyota Innova and Hyundai i20 figured among the top 10 models sold in the last financial year, the report said.

The report quoting data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) said sales of the Alto had fallen 15 percent, though it was the top sold brand of 2012-13. The small car segment as such had witnessed a 13 percent fall in sales during the year, the report said.

Via:firstpost