The whole nation woke up to the sad news of the demise of India’s former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. He was 92 years old and was being treated for age-related medical conditions. He was admitted to AIIMS after he fell at home on 26th December 2024. Leaders from different parts of the country have expressed condolences over the former Prime Minister’s demise. Besides being the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh also served as the Finance Minister of India. He, in fact, attended the launch of the Maruti Esteem during the 1994 Auto Expo in Delhi, and a video of the same has now been circulating online.
Maruti’s first-ever product, the 800, was a huge success in the market. After the 800, Maruti introduced cars like the Omni van and Gypsy into the market. Maruti then decided to enter the sedan segment with the Maruti 1000 in 1990. The Maruti 1000 was later replaced with the Esteem in 1994. The video shared by Wild Films India shows how Maruti launched the Esteem sedan back in 1994.
We see Dr. Manmohan Singh visiting pavilions of other brands in the video. The video was actually taken on the day of the Maruti Esteem’s launch. The report talks about the rivals in the market and how the “luxury” sedan market was growing in the country. Maruti Suzuki priced the Esteem at Rs 3.81 lakh, which was a lot at that time.
The Maruti 1000 became popular among customers, and the same was the case with the Esteem. The demand for this premium sedan skyrocketed within a short span of time. The Maruti Esteem became a status symbol for families. The design of the Esteem was different from all other cars that were on sale back then.
One good thing that Maruti did when they replaced the 1000 with the Esteem was that they updated the engine too. They removed the 1000 from the lineup and equipped the Esteem with a 1.3-litre petrol engine. The Esteem’s 1.3-litre petrol engine generated 65 PS and a peak torque of 90 Nm. The second generation of the Esteem came with an even more powerful engine, capable of producing around 85 PS of maximum power.
Initially, the sedan was offered with a 4-speed manual transmission but was later updated to a 5-speed unit. The Maruti Esteem was probably the most advanced and feature-loaded car from the Indian brand back then. It came with hydraulic power steering, electric power windows, a 2-DIN music system, climate control, and so on.
Maruti is always known for launching products after understanding the market and customer needs. As mentioned above, the Esteem was launched as a car that everyone could afford. To make it more accessible to buyers, Maruti decided to launch a lower version of the Esteem without air conditioning.
This helped them bring down the price of the car slightly. The non-AC variant of the Esteem was launched at Rs 3.08 lakh after the Finance Ministry of India approved it.
The non-AC variant was exclusively launched for government officials. The aim was to replace Ambassadors with Esteems. The non-AC variant was called the Esteem Standard and was used by many officials from defence, government, public sector undertakings, paramilitary forces, and so on.
