NEW DELHI: India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Monday globally launched its mid-sized sedan Ciaz with an introductory price starting at Rs 6.99 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). This is the first new model to be rolled out from the Maruti stable in the past seven years.
Ciaz will replace the SX4 sedan, which has had a limited success.
The petrol variants of Ciaz are priced between Rs 6.99 lakh and Rs 9.34 lakh while the diesel variants are priced between Rs 8.04 lakh and Rs 9.8 lakh, respectively (ex-showroom Delhi). Ciaz comes in petrol and diesel options, powered by 1.4 litre and 1.3 litre engines, respectively.
“Millions of Indians have enjoyed Maruti cars for years. These customers are looking to upgrade to mid-sized sedans. Ciaz is for them,” MSI Managing Director and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa told reporters at the global launch of its new offering.
“Ciaz has been designed keeping in mind the needs and expectations of Indian sedan customers," Ayukawa said.
He added that the company has been able to achieve localisation content of 98% for the car. Regarding sales target for the mid-sized sedan, Ayukawa said: “We expect to sell 60,000 to 80,000 units during the first year of the launch.”
MSI, along with its vendors, has invested Rs 620 crore on development of Ciaz, which has been developed on a completely new platform.
In Chennai, MSI Commercial Business Head (South) and General Manager Ram Suresh Akella said the company was in the process of increasing the 'indigenisation levels' of Ciaz.
In Chennai Ciaz is priced between Rs 7.39 lakh base variant and Rs 10.25 lakh (ex-showroom Chennai) for the top model.