Maruti Suzuki might launch a ‘Big-Size SUV’ to rival Hyundai Creta!

Maruti Suzuki is currently considering if launching a ‘big-size SUV’ for the Indian market, to compete with the likes of Hyundai Creta makes sense or not.

Maruti Suzuki currently does not have any solid contender in the semi-premium compact SUV segment in India. It biggest rival, Hyundai dominated this segment at the moment with the help of the segment-leading Creta. The Maruti S-Cross, placed in a similar price tag, despite a recent facelift, is not able to garner as many sales as its Hyundai counterpart, the Creta.

To put things in perspective, for the month of November 2018, Hyundai Creta sales figure stood at 9,677 units. In comparison, the number of units sold of the Maruti Suzuki S-Cross stood 2,325 units. These figures clearly indicate that the Indo-Japanese automaker, in order to make the best out of the current demand for compact SUVs in India needs a genuine rival for Hyundai Creta.

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In an interview with Autocar India, Kenichi Ayukawa, MD and CEO, Maruti Suzuki, when asked if the company sees the international spec Vitara as a possible contender for the Hyundai Creta in India said that the automaker is currently ‘studying that type of vehicle, a big-size SUV’ and that there are discussions going on in India as well as in Japan if Maruti can develop such a vehicle for the Indian market.

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The Suzuki Vitara was on sale in India in its previous generation named as the Grand Vitara. But due to the lack of demand in the compact SUV segment back then, it was not a very strong player for Maruti Suzuki. Hence, leading to the company discontinuing the same for its line-up. In the international markets, the Vitara is sold in its next-generation avatar and has recently received a minor facelift. We believe that if Maruti does decide to bring the Vitara brand to India, it will do so with a next-generation iteration of the same.

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Nevertheless, Maruti Suzuki has several other upcoming model launches lined-up for this year. The most recent of which is the debut of the third generation Wagon R set to the 23rd of this month. The same will be followed by the launch of the updated Alto, Baleno and eventually the Concept S Micro-SUV.