India is witnessing an onslaught of compact SUV’s today. It all started way back at the 2012 Auto Expo in Delhi, where there were many compact SUV’s showcased. The Maruti Suzuki XA-Alpha, the Ford EcoSport, the Renault Duster etc. were among the compact SUV’s showcased. Of these, the Renault Duster was launched the same year and was a runaway success, it single handedly brought Renault to the forefront of the Indian motoring scene, and then the Ford EcoSport was launched this-year, and in the past few months it has been among the top 10 cars in terms of sales figures. The only compact SUV that was showcased at the Auto Expo, but is not even close to production is the Maruti Suzuki XA-Alpha.
Maruti XA-Alpha Compact SUV (codenamed YAD)
It is surprising to see this as, Maruti Suzuki is the top manufacturer in the country in terms of sales figures, it has the capacity to produce good cars, the XA-Alpha was a very good looking vehicle and, right now, there is NO SUV in the entire line-up of Maruti Suzuki vehicles, except the 3 decade old Gypsy and the unnecessarily overpriced Grand Vitara. The XA-Alpha was one chance for Maruti Suzuki to enter into the highly competitive Compact SUV market. But there is no sign of it making its way to the production line anytime soon, and according to reports, it won’t make it into production, even until the later part of 2014.
Kenichi Ayukawa, MD and CEO of Maruti Suzuki has said that, it would be very difficult to launch the XA-Alpha in 2014, because, Maruti Suzuki seems to concentrate on its homemade diesel engines, of which, the first one would be a 800cc two-cylinder unit, which is expected to power their first LCV in India and a slightly Modified version of it would power the next gen A-star/Alto, which is also slated for a 2014 launch.
Till 2015, Maruti Suzuki is expected to bring the YL1 sedan, which is expected to replace the SX4 sedan and also launch a few facelifts across its existing range.
Also see – Here is a list of Maruti’s upcoming SUVs upto 2017
Maruti Suzuki coming-up with new 0.8, 1.2, 1.4 and 1.6 diesel engines
Source – Financial Express
