If the Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara is not doing so well in India, is it because of the pricing or because of branding issues?
In order to take on the Honda CR-V, Ford Endeavour and Chevrolet Captiva, Maruti Suzuki is looking at ways of bringing down the prices of its Grand Vitara SUV. And for that, the company is said to be considering the possibility of assembling this vehicle in India. The Grand Vitara, which is fitted with a 2.4-litre petrol engine, is currently imported to India as a CBU and is priced between Rs 16.70-18.00 lakh for the manual and automatic transmission versions.
Maruti Suzuki sold 59 units of the Grand Vitara during April-September this year, compared to 194 units during April-September 2008. While the Grand Vitara is refined, comfortable, overall capable and refined vehicle, it’s never sold very well. Even the earlier-generation Grand Vitara, which was fitted with an outstandingly smooth and powerful V6 petrol engine, never sold well in India.
While Suzuki SUVs are priced lower than Honda, Nissan or Mitsubishi SUVs, they still fail to do well because Maruti Suzuki, as a brand, is primarily associated with small cars in the Indian market. Hence, Suzuki SUVs are not deemed as ‘prestigious’ as Honda or Toyota vehicles, which is why people are not prepared to pay similar sums of money for Suzuki vehicles.
1 Comments:
If I could, I would on anyday prefer a Viatra over CRV, the specs and features is simply outstanding for its price in its class of competition, besides its a CBU.
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