Maruti Suzuki, which has recently halted the production of its not-so-successful microvan ‘Versa’, is now gearing up to roll out a new vehicle in that segment by March 2010. Speculation is now pretty rife that Maruti Suzuki will introduce the Suzuki APV (sold in various countries by its parent company) and would like to pit it against Mahindra Xylo, Toyota Innova and Chevrolet Tavera, and soon-to-be-launched Tata Indicruz.

It is to be mentioned that The Suzuki APV is already flooding the market in Pakistan, Indonesia and even Australia, where it comes with a 1.6-liter engine and dual front airbags. The Indian version is most likely to come with a 1.2-liter K-Series engine along with the established 1.3-liter Multi-jet engine, though it has not be officially confirmed by the company.

“We will be launching a new van by the end of this fiscal. This vehicle will replace the Versa, whose production has already been stopped,” Maruti Suzuki India Managing Executive Officer (Engineering) I. V. Rao told reporters on the sidelines of the Fourth Environmentally Friendly Vehicle Conference in New Delhi. He, however, did not give the price point of the soon-to-be launched vehicle. He concluded by saying, “The numbers were very low as it is for Versa and we were making the car only on demand,” he said. “Now we have completely stopped production for the model.”

According to an auto enthusiast, “The new minivan to be launched by Suzuki (APV) would try to do for Maruti what Versa failed miserably doing. Create a niche for itself in the MUV segment. This would well be Maruti’s best people-carrier.”

While the company is yet to take a call on pricing, industry sources indicate that it will be around Rs. 6-8 lakh. Media reports had earlier indicated that the MPV, codenamed O2, is currently at an advanced stage of design and would be rolled out from Maruti’s Gurgaon plant, where its microvan-Versa- was also manufactured earlier.

Comments By The Readers