With the aim of widening its range in the premium segment of the passenger vehicle (PV) market, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) has launched Invicto MPV, its largest and most expensive model. The multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) will be available at a starting price of Rs 24.79 lakh for the basic model, going up to Rs 28.42 lakh for the top-end variant, ex-showroom.
The badge-engineered version of the Toyota Innova Hycross comes with a seating configuration of seven and eight seats and will be retailed across nearly 470 Nexa retail outlets in the country. Bookings for this model kicked off on June 19. Deliveries have also commenced. The country's largest carmaker will source the strong hybrid model from Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) as part of a global collaboration between Toyota and Suzuki.
While unveiling the Invicto, MSIL Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Hisashi Takeuchi said the model has been carefully crafted to match the modern tastes of Nexa customers, who want a "premium three-row vehicle" with the dynamism of a sports utility vehicle (SUV).
In his view, the Grand Vitara, Fronx, and Jimny have substantially enhanced the automaker's market share in the SUV segment. "While we are in the second position in the industry now, it is only a matter of time before we take the number one position in the SUV segment," he noted.
The seven-seater Invicto is powered by a 2.0-liter, 4-cylinder engine that gives 172 bhp of power and 188 Nm of torque and is paired with a hybrid motor that generates an additional output of 11 bhp and 206 Nm of torque. The hybrid powertrain is mated to an e-CVT (electro-continuous variable transmission). The claimed mileage of the Invicto is 23.24 kmpl.
As earlier reported by Moneycontrol, the Invicto comes with a panoramic sunroof, a 10.1-inch touchscreen infotainment system with smartphone connectivity, and advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) features.
The Invicto MPV is available in three variants. The Zeta+ seven-seater variant has an introductory ex-showroom price of Rs 24,79,000; the Zeta+ eight-seater variant has a price of Rs 24,84,000 ex-showroom; and the Alpha+ variant is priced at Rs 28,42,000 ex-showroom. The company has no plans to introduce a mild-hybrid version of this model.
MSIL garnered 6,200 bookings for the Invicto and foresees the top 10 cities accounting for 80-85 percent of the volumes.
"The maximum bookings are from Tier-I cities, including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Pune, and Hyderabad, closely followed by Tier-II and Tier-III cities. Customers who intend to buy this model mostly belong to the higher-income group and already own vehicles," Maruti Suzuki's Senior Executive Director, Sales, Shashank Srivastava, told Moneycontrol recently.
Asked about the market potential of Invicto, Srivastava said the overall MPV market was 3,30,128 units strong last financial year. He cited the emergence of the three-row premium SUV and MUV segments, which saw sales of about 2,58,000 units last fiscal and is poised to go up to 3,00,000 units this fiscal. Within those sales numbers, vehicles priced over Rs 20 lakh accounted for around 1,17,000-118,000 units.
Without sharing any projected market share the company is eyeing in the premium MPV space, Srivastava said that more than volumes, this model will have a substantial "rub-off effect" on other brands within Maruti’s "umbrella".
"We attained market leadership in the Rs 15-20 lakh vehicle segment last fiscal and the sale of cars above Rs 10 lakh price tag has more than tripled from 2015-16 till last fiscal This has emboldened us and we see an opportunity in the over Rs 20 lakh category as well with the introduction of Invicto," noted Srivastava.
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