Declaring its inclinations towards gigantic battle in the small car segment and its desire to increase 48% market share in the hatchback segment, Maruti Suzuki India is seriously contemplating the launch of an all new premium hatchback by 2015. The new small car — code named ‘YRA’ , will be targeted towards Indian and European markets and will be prodcued in Suzuki’s factories in India and Hungary.
The car will have a totally new brand identity to make it look a notch above the existing hatchbacks, i.e. Swift and Ritz, both of which are due for facelifts and full model changes in the coming years. Its noteworthy that the hatchback segment currently makes about 54% of the total car sales in India and competitors like Honda and Hyundai are also gearing up with new launches — a reworked Jazz and i20, respectively — by end of 2014.
Since the company has not divulged any detail about the upcoming car, all that we have is guesswork. With its diverse portfolio, the key for MSI will be to give this car the right positioning. The new YRA car can either be positioned somewhere between the Swift and the Ritz or perhaps even above the Swift. The car should have a diesel as well as a petrol variant.
Currently, with its 3 production facilities in India, the company can produce about 15 lakh cars per year. Apart from this, it is chipping in with Rs 2500 crore to set up a new R&D centre at Rohtak in Haryana, and a new production facility in Gujrat with investments of the tune of Rs 1000 crore. Presently, 40% of all the cars sold in the country are from Maruti Suzuki and with such long term investment plans, we may expect this figure to go further up. Let us wait for further details to come out!
