India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki has ridden the popularity of its Vitara Brezza to become the largest SUV manufacturer in the country. This is despite the current waiting period of four to six weeks. Now, Maruti Suzuki has ramped up production of the Vitara Brezza to help bring down the waiting period for the compact SUV.
The Vitara Brezza is the most popular utility vehicle currently on sale in India with Maruti Suzuki selling nearly 16,000 units of the compact SUV in October 2018. Maruti Suzuki with the help of its parent Japanese company Suzuki increased production of the Vitara Brezza to 94,000 units during the period of April to October 2018. This is an increase of 10 percent over the same period in 2017.
Maruti Suzuki’s parent company Suzuki has a production facility in Hansalpur, Gujarat, which is mainly used for export business but is also another plant where the Vitara Brezza is currently being produced along with Maruti’s other production plant in Manesar. Suzuki has been ramped up the production capacity of its Gujarat plant to full capacity, which has allowed Maruti to increase the production of the Vitara Brezza. The carmaker hopes this will help enhance the buying and ownership experience for potential customers.
In a statement released by Maruti Suzuki, the carmaker’s Senior Executive Director (Marketing and Sales), R. S. Kalsi said,
“With the Suzuki Motor Gujarat plant operational at its full capacity of 2.5 lakh units annually in Gujarat, we are able to increase the output. We are confident that with the reduced waiting period, we will be able to enhance the car buying and ownership experience of our customers.”
Maruti Suzuki launched the Vitara Brezza in India in 2016 and has since sold over 3.57 lakh units of the compact SUV. Over the past financial year, 2017-18, Maruti sold 1.48 lakh units the Vitara Brezza. The Vitara Brezza’s popularity with the nation’s car buyers has seen Maruti overtake Mahindra to become the nation’s largest SUV manufacturer.
To further entice customers to purchase the Vitara Brezza, a few months ago, Maruti upgraded the nation’s most popular SUV by adding the option of an AMT gearbox and by adding more features both inside and out. The Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza is only offered in diesel guise and draws power from the Fiat-sourced 1.3-litre turbodiesel engine. The engine produces 89 bhp @ 4,000 rpm and 200 Nm of torque @ 1,750 rpm. The engine comes paired to either a 5-speed manual gearbox or an AMT and returns a mileage of 24.29 km/l. Prices for the Vitara Brezza start at Rs 7.58 lakh.