Close on the heels of Marurti Suzuki ruling out the Swift Sport and the Jimny models for India, here’s another highly anticipated car that’s unlikely to make it to Indian car showrooms anytime soon. The 7-seat Maruti WagonR, which was first showcased in Indonesia as the Suzuki WagonR R3 concept is unlikely to be launched in India.
This was confirmed by Maruti Suzuki engineering head, Mr CV Raman, who told IAB the following,
We study the MPV segments, and it is actually shrinking…volumes are too low. And if people need practicality of 7 seats in budget, we offer this already with Omni and Eeco. And we have Ertiga also whichoffers VFM. So products are already available.
Maruti already has two hot selling 7 seat cars, in fact vans, in the sub-Rs. 5 lakh segments in the form of the Omni and Eeco. The 7 seat WagonR, if and when launched, would have been Maruti’s 3rd offering in the space, and at a similar price point.
Considering that this segment is shrinking, Maruti doesn’t think that it’s worthwhile to bring the 7-seat WagonR to India. What this means is that the Datsun Go Plus station wagon will be the only ‘car-like’ 7-seater at a sub-Rs. 5 lakh price point in the foreseeable future. Notably, the Datsun Go Plus will soon get a facelift in India.
The next major change in the WagonR line-up for the Indian market will be an all-new model. The all-new WagonR is expected to be launched in India some time next year. The car will get a complete styling revamp and will also get up-rated safety features. For the past couple of years, many test mules of the all-new WagonR have been spotted in and around the NCR roads. The new car is likely to be inspired by the Japan Domestic Model (JDM)-spec WagonR, which was launched last year.
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