The next generation Maruti DZire will be introduced in the market as early as the 2018 financial year instead of the 2019 fiscal due to increased competition.
Essentially a Swift with a boot, the Maruti DZire was quick to catch the fancy of the Indian market and has been super successful as one of the first compact sedans to go on sale. The model’s popularity catapulted it to becoming the second best selling vehicle in India after the Alto and Maruti Suzuki surely wants to hold on to that position for as long as possible. As a result, the company has decided to prepone the development of the next generation DZire by a year from the 2018-19 fiscal to the 2017-18 financial year.
An auto-component executive received a request for quotation from Maruti, which brought this development to light. The DZire is the most selling compact sedan in the market currently and easily beats its closest rivals by almost three times in volumes. However, with the next-generation model three years away, the competition gets ample of time to catch up with the Honda Amaze, Ford Figo Aspire and Hyundai Xcent being good thought out and comparatively newer products.
The next generation DZire is also extremely important to Maruti’s larger plans as the company aims to double its sales to 2 million units by 2020. The automaker plans to revamp three models in the coming years which include the Swift and Ertiga in addition to the DZire. The next generation Swift is due for replacement in 2018 and will be based on the light-weight platform underpinning the recently launched Baleno and will shed weight while improving structural rigidity. In addition, expect to see more safety tech on the new models along with a host of features.
Maruti has planned comprehensive changes to the next generation Swift and DZire in terms of design as well as mechanicals. The automaker’s upcoming 1.5-litre diesel motor is also likely to power the new models. The outgoing Maruti Swift is already facing cannibalisation from the Baleno due to the close pricing, but the next generation models will ease things again for the automaker. The automaker is currently working on introducing a petrol variant of the DZire Tour with optional CNG to combat the diesel vehicle sales issue in Delhi.
Source – Livemint.com
