Maruti Ritz Genus Launched

The country's largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki will unveil a special limited edition 'Maruti Ritz Genus' tomorrow, to commemorate the first anniversary of Ritz model. 'Maruti Ritz Genus' will be available as an option on the Ritz VXi (Petrol) and Ritz VDi (Diesel) models. The price of Maruti Ritz VXi will be Rs 4,54,349 (ex-showroom Delhi) and Maruti Ritz Genus VDi will be Rs. 5,31,410 (ex-showroom Delhi).

The limited edition, 'Maruti Ritz Genus' retains the best attributes of Brand Ritz and adds several exciting features, which include: a brand new signature colour `Emerald Blue' The colour is accentuated through matching door handles and body colour rear view mirrors. Smart body graphics run all along the length to make the car distinctly appealing. Body side mouldings add character to the Genus's profile. The rear is enhanced with a back door garnish and graceful "Genus" decal.

The interiors are plush with a dual tone dashboard with blue-gray shades. For entertainment, the 'Maruti Ritz Genus' is equipped with Radio and CD with speakers and tilt-adjustable steering. Other customer-friendly features include keyless entry, rear wiper-cum-washer, and a rear parcel tray.

Speaking on the occasion Shashank Srivastava, Chief General Manager (Marketing) said, "Limited Editions are our way to bring excitement to the showrooms. We have excellent experience with Limited editions in the past. While they bring in incremental sales numbers, at the same time customer response to these special models have helped us for future product development and planning. I am confident that the Maruti Ritz Genus will find great appreciation with customers for its new add-on features."

In recent years, the company has brought in `Limited Editions' for its bestsellers like Maruti Swift, Maruti Estilo and Maruti Alto to bring vibrancy and excitement around its offerings.

Maruti Ritz, launched in May 2009, delivered the best ever first-year performance in the domestic automobile Premium A-2 segment by registering sales of a whopping 68,130 units in its first year of sales. Cumulatively, Maruti Ritz has sold over 86,400 vehicles till date.

Maruti Ritz has endeared itself to its customers for its superb fuel efficiency of 17.7 kmpl in petrol and of 21.1 kmpl in diesel, bold styling and excellent road handling.

Maruti Ritz is available in two power train options: 1.2-litre, four-cylinder K Series petrol engine with maximum power of 85 PS and the highly successful 1.3-litre, DDiS diesel unit that delivers a maximum power of 75 PS. The Ritz comes with Drive-by-wire technology in both petrol and diesel variants. This along with the 32-bit Engine Management System provides faster signal processing and quick response.

Maruti Ritz, developed on the successful Swift platform and positioned at the premium-end of the compact car market, has been specifically designed for India. Maruti Suzuki engineers worked with the Suzuki design team in Japan to co-design the car and carry out India-specific changes such as superior transmission, improved suspension and better ground clearance.

Maruti 800

One of India's most successful cars is Maruti 800 would become a part of history coming April. Maruti Suzuki chairman R C Bhargava announced, " Maruti 800 is not compliant with BS IV norms and we don't have any intentions of making it complaint with BS IV." Following this announcement it is clear that the car's partial phase-out would begin in April 2010 and the company would stop selling the car in 13 major cities including Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Agra and Surat.

The new government guidelines, beginning April 2010, state that car makers would be allowed to sell only Euro IV compliant vehicles in the four metros and nine other cities. While the rest of the country would move from the Euro III to Euro IV norms in 2015-16. RC Bhargava added that the company would continue selling Maruti 800 in cities that don't have to comply to BS-IV norms. Bhargava also said that the company has no plans to introduce a new model at Maruti 800's price point, which sells four variants priced between 185,715 rupees ($4011) and 219,587 rupees (ex-showroom New Delhi).

Apart from this the other reason behind Maruti's refusal to upgrade 800 to BS-IV norms is that the sales of the model have gone down by 37 per cent and Maruti was able to sell only about 27088 cars in the 10 months ending in January 2010. With the phase out of Maruti 800 becoming a certainty the number of prospective Tata Nano, Hyundai Santro and Chevrolet Spark buyers might just go up a little.