Maruti Suzuki India, as a part of its aggressive SUV strategy, unveiled the much anticipated Grand Vitara SUV today.
Underpinning the company’s fourth gen Suzuki TECT platform, Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, MSIL confirmed that the new SUV will enter into production in August, with sales commencing in September 2022. Significantly, the SUV will be manufactured at Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s Bidadi plant, near Bangalore.
Readers would recall that Toyota and Suzuki are promoting mutual supply of vehicles globally, which is one of the collaborations in the business partnership.
Takeushi further added that the new SUV will be exported to several international markets, including the South American and African markets.
In addition to the vehicle, the company also launched the NexaVerse VR (Virtual Reality) engagement experience. The Grand Vitara is the first product on offer on NexaVerse, and can be experienced and booked by the customers using the application. The company has claimed it is the first manufacturer in the world to offer bookings for a product on the metaverse.
To be retailed through the company’s NEXA dealership channel, the SUV gets two sets of hybrid powertrain. The entry level versions get the company’s own 1.5 l K-series engine with Neo Drive (ISG) churning out 75 kW of power and 135 Nm of torque. This engine is paired with either a 5-speed manual transmission or a 6-speed auto.
The higher-end models of the Grand Vitara will feature the 1.5 l engine termed as the ‘intelligent hybrid system’ paired with an e-CVT gearbox. Together, this powertrain delivers a combined output of 85 kW – while the engine produces 68 kW and a torque of 122 Nm, the motor puts out 59 kW of power and 141 Nm of torque.
Maruti claims a fuel efficiency of 27.97 kmpl on the strong hybrid version of the Grand Vitara, which would make this the most fuel-efficient SUV in the Indian market. For the manual transmission variant, fuel efficiency has been measured at 21.11 kmpl, 20.58 kmpl for the AT and 19.38 kmpl in the ALLGRIP MT AWD variant. Additionally, all the variants will feature four driving modes, including Auto, Sand, Snow, and Lock.
CV Raman, Chief Technical Officer, Maruti Suzuki India said, although the vehicle has been conceptualised by SUZUKI Global, the Indian team has worked on the localisation of the product, and have extensively tested the vehicle in Indian conditions.
Earlier, while addressing the media, Takeuchi said the Indian auto industry is undergoing transformational changes, including technological advancements and customer preferences. The SUV segment in particular has seen 40% growth, while the compact SUV segment hold 50% share of this segment.
“Maruti Suzuki has led the market with its slew of new product launches across segments, catering to the diverse needs of the new-age Indian customer,” he added.
Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Director (Sales & Marketing), Maruti Suzuki India, said, “The SUV segment has grown tremendously in the past four years as customers have shown a strong inclination towards an assertive design, dominant road presence and new-age technology.” He added that the XL6 and the Ertiga combined have secured a market share of nearly 60% in the MPV segment during FY22.
Interestingly, MSIL’s NEXA channel is completing seven years within the next few days, and in this journey, Srivastava said, the company has added around 420 NEXA dealership across India, while catering to around 1.7 million customers.