GURGAON, Oct 6: Country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) today launched mid-sized sedan Ciaz with an introductory price starting at Rs 6.99 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
The petrol variants of the sedan are priced between Rs 6.99 lakh and Rs 9.34 lakh while the diesel variants are priced between Rs 8.04 lakh and Rs 9.8 lakh, respectively (ex-showroom Delhi).
“Millions of Indians have enjoyed Maruti cars for years. These customers are looking to upgrade to mid-sized sedans. Ciaz is for them, ” MSI Managing Director and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa told reporters here.
He added that the company has been able to achieve localisation content of 98 per cent for the car.
“Ciaz has been designed keeping in mind the needs and expectations of Indian sedan customers,” Ayukawa said.
Ciaz comes in petrol and diesel options, powered by 1.4 litre and 1.3 litre engines, respectively.
MSI, along with its vendors, has invested Rs 620 crore on development of Ciaz. The mid-sized sedan has been developed on a completely new platform.
In addition to the domestic market, the company also plans to export the car to markets in the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.
In India, Ciaz would compete with Honda City, priced between Rs 7.19 lakh and Rs 11.05 lakh and Hyundai Verna tagged between Rs 7.39 lakh and Rs 11.72 lakh, respectively (ex showroom Delhi).
Since the bookings opened for the car last month, the company has received orders for 10,000 units.
Ciaz will replace the SX4 sedan, which had a limited success.
At its peak, SX4 sold about 3,000 units a month, while the current segment leader Honda City sells about 5,000 units a month.
Overall, the mid-sized segment witnesses sales of around 16,000 units per month.
When asked about the sales target for the mid-sized sedan, Ayukawa said: “We expect to sell 60,000 to 80,000 units during the first year of the launch.”
He added that the Indian automobile market has started to witness some signs of improvement after three years of slowdown.
Commenting on the launch, MSI Executive Director (Marketing & Sales) RS Kalsi said: “There are 1.4 million customers who drive Swift and Dzire. Ciaz is going to be a natural upgrade for them. We are quite confident about that”.
In Chennai, Maruti Suzuki India, Commercial Business Head (South) and General Manager, Ram Suresh Akella, said the company was in the process of increasing the “indigenisation levels” of Ciaz.
“For any car, during the launch the minimum indigenisation levels are about 70 to 75 per cent. It is in the process of being increased (for Ciaz)”, he told reporters in Chennai, after launching Ciaz.
Ciaz is priced in Chennai between Rs 7.39 lakh base variant and Rs 10.25 lakh (ex-showroom Chennai) for the top model.
He said for some of the products, the indigenisation levels have been increased to 95 per cent.
Earlier itself, Maruti Suzuki dealerships have been accepting bookings for the car ahead of its formal launch and when asked about it, Akella said the company has so far received over 10,000 bookings.
According to him, the company witnessed a 14.7 per cent jump in its overall sales as of September 30,2014 while in Southern region it rose by 9.5 per cent.
The mid-size sedan (A3plus segment) market has about 18 per cent share of the total two lakh units. (PTI)
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