While it has long dominated India’s small car market, Maruti Suzuki is about to step into uncharted waters at the premium end with its upcoming flagship, the Maruti Suzuki Invicto. Maruti, which has always been associated with reliable, efficient and affordable motoring, is about to launch a rebadged version of the immensely popular Toyota Innova Hycross, which will almost certainly be the most expensive car sold by the manufacturer till date. Ahead of its launch on July 5, a senior company official has admitted that the success of the Invicto will depend on how well the country’s largest carmaker can market it.
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The Invicto is a mildly restyled version of the Toyota Innova Hycross.
During an interaction with carandbike, Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, said that the company has been buoyed by the response to three of its recent launches that operate in the Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh price bracket – namely, the Maruti Suzuki Fronx, Jimny and Grand Vitara.
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Stating the company held 30 per cent market share in the Rs 10-15 lakh segment last fiscal, Srivastava maintained that while Maruti continues to be seen as a mass-market brand, it has been able to enhance its aspirational value over the last few years, with the creation of the Nexa chain of dealerships playing a key role. However, Srivastava recognises that while the Hycross is incredibly popular – and is based on Toyota’s bulletproof architecture – that may not be enough to have customers queuing up for a Maruti likely to cost in excess of Rs 20 lakh.
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“The initial thought that Maruti Suzuki may not do well in the Rs 10 lakh to 15 lakh category was probably not right. Our success in that space has given us some confidence to try to participate in the Rs 20 lakh plus category, but obviously it's a different category and it's more challenging. The challenge is how to get it right from a marketing and positioning perspective, because on [Toyota’s] side, there are some supply constraints. Consumer expectations and aspirations have also evolved, so we'll have to do a good marketing job I think if we have to make [Invicto] a success”, said Srivastava.
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Maruti originally launched the S-Cross with a 1.6-litre diesel, but pulled the plug on the variant a few years after launch.
Maruti Suzuki’s attempts at building more premium – and also more expensive – cars hasn’t worked wonders for the brand in the past. Loyalists still swear by the original Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, but it was a dud on the sales charts. The same could be said about the Maruti Suzuki Kizashi, which, at the time of its launch in 2011, was unimaginably pricey for a Maruti, with prices ranging from Rs 16.5 lakh to Rs 17.5 lakh. Then there was the Maruti Suzuki S-Cross, which, armed with an impressively powerful 1.6-litre diesel engine, had a price tag of close to Rs 14 lakh. Maruti eventually dropped the 1.6-litre diesel from the line-up in a couple of years’ time, before pulling the plug on the crossover in 2022.
It is understood that Toyota will only supply the Invicto in limited quantities to Maruti Suzuki every month, as it has its hands full with pending orders for the Hycross at this time. Waiting periods for its latest people-carrier have soared, and Toyota was recently forced to close order books for the top-spec ZX and ZX (O) variants.
Waiting periods for the Toyota Innova Hycross hybrid have crossed the two-year mark.
Maruti’s flagship MPV will feature the same strong hybrid powertrain as the Hycross, but it remains to be seen if it will also be offered with the standard, 2.0-litre petrol engine. On the inside, the MPV is likely to feature a different colour scheme, but is set to mirror the Hycross’ equipment list, and is expected to be available in seven- and eight-seat forms.
The Invicto, which will be sold via Maruti’s Nexa chain of dealerships, is likely to be priced slightly higher than the Innova Hycross, prices for which range from Rs 18.55 lakh to Rs 26.78 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai).
