NEW DELHI: Maruti Suzuki is all set to launch a new premium hatchback, strengthening its portfolio in the segment, in the second week of January. Targeted at millenials, the car will be called ‘Ignis’ and will be sold through the company’s Nexa premium outlets.
“The population of millennials has grown over the years in India. They are unique in their approach and consumption pattern. So far, nobody has designed a car for them. With the Ignis we are targeting them,” Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Executive Director (Marketing and sales) R S Kalsi said. Maruti has made certain that the car appeals to millenials, boasting variants that will come equipped with either a 1.2 litre petrol or a 1.3 litre diesel engine. It will also offer automatic gearshift options on both variants.
According to the firm, this will be the entry level car for the premium Nexa chain, which also sells the Baleno and S-Cross models of the company.
At present MSI has 197 Nexa outlets in about 115 cities in India. “By the end of the ongoing fiscal it will be around 250 outlets in 150 cities,” Kalsi said.
The Ignis will be produced at MSI’s Gurugram plant and meant mainly for the domestic market but will be exported to South Asia and South East Asia also. The car will be launched on January 13.
Mercedes-Benz to hike prices of all cars in India by up to 2% to offset rising costs
Luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz said on Thursday that it will hike prices of its entire model range in India, effective January 1, 2017, by up to 2 per cent to offset rising inflation, input costs and increasing forex rates. “The rising inflation coupled with rising input costs and increasing forex rates have been exerting significant pressure on the bottom line,” Mercedes Benz India said in a statement. The combination of all these factors led to Mercedes-Benz India upwardly revising the prices of the entire model range, it added. Mercedes-Benz India MD Roland Folger said: “A steady rise in input costs against the backdrop of increasing forex rates and high inflationary cost together have eroded our bottom line. We were left with fewer options but to make some necessary price adjustments to our product range in order to protect the investment of our customers. We decided to absorb a higher impact of these adversary factors on our price and pass a lesser part of it to customers.”