Maruti Suzuki looking to rejig Fronx line up

Maruti Suzuki announced that it has sold 1,00,000 units of its Fronx SUV in just 10 months since its launch, making it the fastest model across all manufacturers in India to hit the milestone. While sales are obviously robust, Maruti is already looking at a rejig of the variant line-up.

1. Fronx available with 1.2 petrol, CNG and 1.0 turbo-petrol options
2. Turbo-petrol only accounts for 7 percent of Fronx sales
3. Initial sales projections were to have 25-30 percent from Fronx turbo 

The Fronx is available with three powertrain options: a 1.2-litre petrol, a bi-fuel CNG and a 1.0-litre direct-injection turbo petrol (GDI). Currently, the turbo Fronx accounts for only 7 percent of overall sales, while CNG nets 16 percent and the remaining majority comes from the regular 1.2-litre petrol engine.

Having invested in localising the GDI engine – the unit was earlier imported and briefly offered with the previous Baleno – Maruti is keen to see it sell in higher numbers. Speaking to Autocar India at the announcement, Shashank Srivastava, the company’s senior executive officer, Marketing & Sales, said, “For sure, we would like to see higher turbo sales, initial projections were about 25 to 30 percent, but some customers are perhaps sensitive to the price as the turbo comes with many features.”

Of the five variants, the turbo is offered with the top three, and Maruti could potentially offer lower-spec versions. Srivastava agreed, “Currently some customers who attach value to the turbo engine do not attach value to some features like the HUD, or a 360-deg camera, for example. So yes, we are relooking at our variant strategy.”    

Maruti could also use the GDI engine in other models from its portfolio. But Srivastava was non-committal on this, saying that it’s difficult to give a timeline for the same. However, he added, “We are analysing the market.”