Announcing its entry into a new segment of cars, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL), on Thursday, introduced Ertiga, a multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), primarily targeted at big Indian families living in urban areas. And to further intensify the price war in the fast-growing Indian car market, Ertiga comes with price tags between Rs.5.89 lakh and Rs.7.30 lakh for the petrol versions and Rs.7.30 lakh and Rs.8.45 lakh for the diesel variants.
The petrol variant of Ertiga is equipped with the new version of K-series 1.4 litre engine that delivers 95 PS of power and 16.02 km a litre of mileage, while the diesel variants comes with 1.3 litre power train that gives 90 PS of power and delivers fuel economy of 20.77 km a litre.
Maruti Suzuki is projecting Ertiga an attractive option for customers looking to upgrade to a sedan.
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“Ertiga is a major step forward for Maruti Suzuki. Many urban families in India are now looking for a vehicle that offers more space and flexibility than a sedan, without being bulky, bland and expensive like a utility vehicle…Ertiga is designed for these customers,” MSIL Managing Director and CEO S. Nakanishi told journalists here.
Notably, in recent years, MPVs have emerged as the fastest growing sub-segment among utility vehicles, showing a growth of around 20 per cent in the past three years. MPVs presently account for around 10 per cent share of the Indian automobile industry.
The Indian MPV segment is currently dominated by Toyota's Innova and Mahindra & Mahindra's Xylo.
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MSIL invested about Rs.410 crore to develop Ertiga, primarily for the Indian market, but the company also plans to export it starting from Southeast Asian markets.
“Ertiga is a global product and definitely we will export it to international markets, mainly in Southeast Asia and to begin with Indonesia…we have already started export of Ertiga's completely knocked down units to Indonesia, where it will be assembled at parent Suzuki's plant,” Mr. Nakanishi said.
Stating that Ertiga would further boost the company's market share, MSIL Managing Executive Officer Mayank Pareek said the company would continue to focus on the compact car segment as India would remain a market for such product while at the same time fresh models like Ertiga in new segment would help in expanding the overall share.