Maruti's festive surprise: Reduces prices up to 24%, cars cheaper by almost Rs 1.30 lakh

The Maruti Suzuki Baleno price has gone down by up to Rs 86,100.

The country's largest passenger vehicle (PV) manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India, has reduced the car prices by up to 24% or Rs 1,29,600 in the wake of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate rationalisation.

According to Maruti, while the net effect of the GST restructuring on the car prices is around 8.5%, the higher price reduction, particularly on the entry-level models, has been done to woo the two-wheeler customers so that they can upgrade to four-wheelers.

Among the entry-level models, the price cut is from 12.6% to 24% on the S-Presso, 10.6% to 20% on the Alto K10, 8.6% to 17% on the Celerio, and 8.7% to 14% on the WagonR.

"When we reduced the tax from 29% to 18%, the net effect of GST is 8.5%. Other than GST, we have further reduced the prices to make the cars more affordable, particularly for the two-wheeler customers who want to upgrade to a four-wheeler," Maruti's Senior Executive Officer for Marketing and Sales, Partho Banerjee, said, adding that the special offers are for a limited period and the company will be review them towards the end of the calendar year (CY) 2025.

"The Alto and the WagonR are the two most loved cars by the Indian customers. The Alto has sold over 4.6 million units to date, while the WagonR has crossed sales of 3.3 million units," Banerjee noted.

MARUTI GST CAR PRICE REDUCTION

If we talk about the sedans, the price reduction is up to Rs 67,200 on the Tour S and Rs 87,700 on the Dzire.

Among the SUVs, the price cut is up to Rs 1,12,600 on the Fronx, Rs 1,12,700 on the Brezza, Rs 1,07,000 on the Grand Vitara, and Rs 51,900 on the Jimny.

Coming to the MPVs, the Ertiga price has gone down by up to Rs 46,400 and that of the XL6 and the Ertiga by up to Rs 52,000 and Rs 61,700, respectively.

The Eeco van is now cheaper by up to Rs 68,000.

"In India, only 34 people out of 1,000 own a car today. If we try to do a benchmarking with other countries across the globe, the USA is 860 per 1,000 and Japan is 612 per 1,000. If we compare with Brazil and China, they are at 214 and 223, respectively," Banerjee said.

"In India, we have a huge two-wheeler park of 266 million, while the four-wheeler park is only 48 million. Maruti, being the market leader, feels that we need to come with some offerings to upgrade the two-wheeler customer to four-wheeler," he added.

Referring to challenges in the industry, Banerjee said that the car prices have risen due to the implementation of emission and regulatory norms. "Due to high prices, the down payment amount also increased, which was a challenge for the customer. The equated monthly instalment (EMI) on loans was higher as well," he observed.