Weeks ago, Maruti’s big seller, the Swift Hatchback got a major facelift. Maruti’s other offering in the same space for folks wanting a tall boy design for easy ingress and egress is the Maruti Suzuki Ritz, which is also known as the Suzuki Splash in export markets. This car has motored on doing steady numbers for Maruti ever since it’s launch over two years ago in May, 2009, even as the Swift has eclipsed the Ritz the hotter selling car model. However, Maruti plans to give the Ritz an upgrade once the car gets three years older, as is the case with most Maruti models.
Therefore, expect a mid career refresh for the Ritz even as Maruti has announced one of its most ambitious product upgrade phase yet, with a whopping 20 new models to be launched over the next four to five years. We expect changes mainly in the styling and the interiors rather than anything substantial in the platform itself as the Ritz platform is just 3 years old. Coming to the A-Star Hatchback, this is one small car that simply has failed to take off for Maruti. Primary concerns in the A-Star, which in fact is the replacement for the Maruti Alto, is the very minimal space it offers for its rear seat occupants.
Maruti Suzuki A-Star Hatchback
The car, through being a terrific handler with a very eager yet fuel efficient 1liter, three cylinder K-Series engine has failed to ignite minds of car buyers to sign on the dotted lines, so much so that even the ancient and dowdy looking Zen Estilo sells more than the A-Star every month. The A-Star is almost 3 years old now and by this time next year would be a full four years old in the Indian car market. Therefore, Maruti might want to give the car a total style makeover along with a brand new marketing program for the car mainly targeted at small families for whom rear seat space isn’t a high priority.
With the Hyundai i10 a probable candidate for a diesel engine, we think that Maruti too should think of a small capacity diesel for the A-Star although this doesn’t seem very likely in the next one year or so. Consecutive Maruti cars have been showing a decrease in boot space and we hope that both the Ritz and the A-Star don’t further lose out on the amount of usable space of their boots. So, 2012 promises to be quite an interesting period for Maruti Suzuki as the brand works on revamping and refreshing its product portfolio to stay ahead of its rivals, who seem to be breathing down its neck with a range of competitive products.
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