Maruti Ertiga eyes Innova, Xylo's space; launch on April 12
Whether the markets are able to decouple from bad news emanating out of Europe will be seen over the next week.
Country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki will launch its multi-purpose vehicle Ertiga on April 12 in New Delhi.
The car is expected to be priced below Rs 10 lakh.
The petrol variant of the Ertiga is powered by an all new 1.4 litre K-series engine, K-14 which delivers a mileage of 16.02 kmpl and its diesel variant is powered by 1.3 litre DDiS engine with a mileage of 20.77 kmpl.
With around 4.2 metres in length, the Ertiga falls short of its rivals Toyota Innova and Mahindra Xylo which measure around 4.5 metres.
The new seven seater compact MPV was unveiled at the 11th Auto Expo in January 2012. Ertiga's top end variant will have are - keyless entry, ABS system, steering mounted audio controls and two-tone beige interiors.
The car is built on Swift platform and will be launched in six variants - three diesel and three petrol . The car will come in seven colours.
The company will manufacture the new car at its plant in Gurgaon.
With Ertiga, Maruti Suzuki will step into the Utility Vehicle (UV) segment and effectively create a new compact MPV segment in India.
"The car is for young people who like adventure and also for office goers. Ertiga's first focus is India. Later on, we may look at introducing the vehicle in ASEAN countries like Indonesia,” Mayank Pareek, Managing Executive Offer-Sales & Marketing at the company said.
With Ertiga, Maruti Suzuki is eyeing a big share of utility vehicles(UV) segment, which currently accounts for 14 per cent of the total domestic passenger vehicles market in India. UV sales are growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15 per cent with average monthly sales of about 30,000 units per month.