Maruti expects third of SX4 sales from West

Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL), which entered the sedan segment with the national launch of its SX4 in Delhi on Monday, is expecting Western India to be the largest market for the new product off the block.

The company is in fact estimating that every third SX4 sold will be sold in the Western Indian market which includes Rajasthan, Gujarat, Mumbai, Goa and Maharashtra, other than Mumbai.

MUL's Commercial Business Head Tarun Garg told Business Standard that the style conscious and comparatively more affluent customers are more likely to take a fancy for SX4 than their counterparts elsewhere in India.

"The western market contributes 25 per cent to our overall sales, but the new car will improve on that average," Garg said.

SX4 was launched in Pune on Tuesday. The car will be sold in the city with an ex-showroom price of Rs 6.30 lakh for the Vxi model, Rs 6.99 lakh for the Zxi version and Rs 7.32 lakh for the Zxi leather version.

Garg informed that the company has released the first lot of 2,500 SX4 cars in the market and these are in various stages of delivery to the 400-strong dealership network of MUL.

The car would have been launched across the entire country in a week's time, he added.

MUL's Chief General Manager, engineering research design and development division, I V Rao said the car will compete in the A4 segment models like Honda City, Hyundai's Verna or Ford Fiesta as it will offer most of the features of that segment in its A3 segment configuration.

Rao said the company is not looking at any number for SX4 sales but has the manufacturing capacity to make as many units as demanded by the market. Rao made it clear that MUL is not pitching SX4 for the export markets.