2017’s discontinued cars: From Maruti Ritz to Hyundai i10

2017 saw a lot of new and interesting car launches in the market. However, a few vehicles were put behind the curtains forever. We bring you a few vehicles whose journey came to an end in the current calendar year.

Maruti Ritz

The Maruti Ritz was quite popular among the youths because of its unorthodox design. The vehicle was launched in 2009 and around 4 lakh units were sold in India. The Ritz was removed from the portfolio to make space for the Maruti Ignis.

The Ritz was powered by both petrol and diesel engine options in the market. Over the years, the car did not change much except for the few limited editions that were launched to keep it fresh in the market. Maruti promised to support the vehicle with after sales service and spare parts for next ten years.

Maruti Celerio diesel

The Celerio diesel saw the introduction of Maruti Suzuki’s smallest diesel engine in India. The parallel-twin diesel cylinder of the Celerio did not gather much attraction as the market was much more interested in the first ever AMT version that was being offered with the petrol variant. The Celerio offered excellent fuel efficiency of 21.12 km/l. It was powered by a 793cc engine that develops a maximum of 47.5 PS and 125 Nm.

SsangYong Rexton

Mahindra bought over Ssangyong and introduced the premium SUV, the Rexton in India to take on the Fortuner and the Endeavour. Due to the lack of popularity of the brand name, the market did not respond well to this SUV.

Mahindra decided that they will soon be discontinuing the Rexton brand name from the market. Instead, Mahindra has decided to launch equivalent cars of Rexton and Tivoli in India.

Renault Fluence

In a major reshuffle, Renault decided to put an end to the Fluence premium sedan from India. The unorthodox looking Fluence was powered by the 1.5-litre diesel engine that generates 108.45 Bhp – 240 Nm. Renault discontinued the petrol powered Fluence way back due to low sales.

Renault Koleos

Renault Koleos was the flagship vehicle for the brand in India. The car was discontinued due to the extremely poor response from the market. The Koleos was launched as SKD (Semi Knocked Down) kits that meant a very high price tag. Renault decided to keep the vehicles with 80% localisation and the Koleos did not fit the bill.

Renault Pulse

The Pulse was a rebadged, more premium version of the Nissan Micra. The entry-level vehicle from the French brand did not receive much response from the market. The discontinuation of the Pulse was a part of the Renault strategy to slim down the product portfolio and concentrate on the vehicles that bring in numbers.

Hyundai i10

Hyundai phased out the ageing i10 from the Indian market earlier this year. Internationally, the Grand i10 is the replacement of the i10 but due to the popularity of the i10 in the Indian market, Hyundai continued to sell both the vehicles together. Later in 2018, Hyundai will launch the AH2 hatchback that will fill in the void left by the Hyundai i10.

Chevrolet brand cars

Chevrolet decided to wrap up the business from India earlier this year due to low demand of their vehicles. The American brand had Beat, Sail, Sail U-VA, Cruze, and Trailblazer in the Indian portfolio. The brand is now only manufacturing vehicles in India and exporting the same to the international markets.