S Cross: Can it Break the Cheap Car Jinx for Maruti?
Maruti has been on the top of the Indian passenger car segment throughout the evolution of the modern Indian auto sector. In the beginning it was the Maruti 800, with its legendary success, then it was Zen that introduced the country to the premium hatchback segment, the Alto, the WagonR and the list goes up and on. These cars helped the company to develop that trust among buyers and empower its sales and service network. But, as it goes “you can’t have it both ways”, Maruti has always been haunted by this small car maker image whenever they tried to bring a premium product.
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Update: 05 August, 2015, Maruti has launched its first crossover, S Cross in the Indian auto market today at a price tag of Rs 8.34 lac, ex-showroom, New Delhi. Check more on the S Cross launch.
Also Read : 6 Things You Need To know About the Maruti S Cross
The cars that were considered benchmark products overseas failed here. For example cars like Baleno, highly praised by Indian rallyists, failed commercially; Vitara met the same fate followed by Versa and Kizashi. And it seemed like the people of India were not ready to accept Maruti as a premium car maker. And everytime it tried to bring something on the premium side, or say on the higher price slab, it failed. However, things seemed to change with the introduction of the SX4 that attracted a fair number of buyers because of its beefy and tall looks. But, that too got suppressed partly because of the absence of diesel (initially) and partly because of a more contemporary approach of the competition, like Honda City.
Besides these cars, Ciaz has been fairly successful till now and is bringing promising numbers. Probably, Maruti is finally getting out of its cheap-carmaker cliche. Especially, with the launch of the NEXA dealerships and S-Cross, the first car to be retailed through it. And with people from hospitality and aviation industry serving the customers in this Maruti’s premium dealership, expectations are certainly high. These people are addressed as Relationship Managers by the company and will focus on more personalised after sales experience. This has to come into effect given the no. of cars Maruti dealership sell each day and thus, misses out on the one-on-one experience. It can’t be something that the folks at Hyundai or Honda could have offered, as they had premium cars lined up at their dealerships from the very beginning, which helped their salesperson to deal with such situation in a better way.
Speaking of S-Cross, the insides get a lot of space, premium leather upholstery and quality dash, along with the media navigation infotainment system and cruise control are supplied. The insides are all black with hints of silver inserts at places, a sporty setup, but black is not everyone’s thing especially in our tropical weather. Mechanically, it has that special 1.6-litre DDiS320 motor with oodles of torque and is expected to impress with its performance. On the looks front, it might disappoint those looking for a near SUV thing, but not those who want a giant car.
When fared against the competition, there are cars like Hyundai Creta and EcoSport who look really good and more SUV-ish. Then there is Duster with the AWD option making it close to the off-road territory, something the others in this category can’t think of.
The bottom line is, Maruti has a global product in the name of S-Cross, which is premium on the inside and gets a lot of punch with the 1.6-litre DDiS320 motor and is quite massive to look at if not that attractive. So, can it take break the jinx of a small car maker for Maruti? Of course it can, with NEXA as a tool, still the pricing will play a huge role in attracting buyers. Also, the company has to make sure that this all new products get timely updates, like an automatic transmission option or the AWD option to further up the S-Cross life cycle.
Read more on Maruti S Cross Price
