Maruti Dzire gets a new TVC [Video]

Maruti Suzuki is facing a slowdown in sales, with flat growth year-on-year. A result of this sales stagnation is a  flurry of discounts on almost all its cars from India’s leading automaker. The other consequence of course is an  increase in marketing spend. In line with this, television and mobile devices across the country have been bombarded with a slew of new TVCs for Maruti cars. This one for the Dzire compact sedan is one such ad. Take a look.

The Maruti Dzire is India’s best selling sedan, and has often been the best selling car of the country, doing bigger  numbers than even the Alto entry-level hatchback. Introduced a couple of years ago, the Dzire is ripe for a mid life  makeover, which is expected to happen sometime next year, just as the Bharat Stage 6 emission norms kick in. For now though, there are chunky discounts of up to Rs. 50,000 available on the car, to make it more attractive to buyers.

The Dzire sold in India is based on the HEARTECT lightweight platform, which it shares with a range of cars such as  its hatchback iteration – the Swift, the new WagonR, the Baleno and others. The Dzire is available with petrol and  diesel engine options. The petrol motor is a 1.2 liter K-Series unit with 82 Bhp-113 Nm on tap while the diesel is a  Fiat-licensed 1.3 liter turbocharged unit with 74 Bhp-190 Nm outputs. Both engines get 5 speed manual and AMT  options, heightening the appeal of the Dzire greatly. In fact, it’s the only compact sedan that gets automatic  options with both petrol and diesel engines.

The car gets beige interiors, airbags and ABS as standard safety features, reverse parking sensors and a reverse  camera in the higher variants. The Dzire competes with the likes of the Hyundai Xcent, Honda Amaze, Volkswagen Ameo, Ford Figo Aspire and Tata Tigor. However, none of these cars come anywhere near the Dzire in terms of sales numbers. Such is the dominance of the Dzire that it sells more than the sum total of its direct rivals. Prices start from Rs. 5.69 lakhs for the base petrol trim and Rs. 6.67 lakhs for the base diesel version. The car is available in no less  than 14 variants.

The reason for high sales of the Maruti Dzire have to do with its success in both the private car buyer and cab  market. The Dzire is also India’s most popular cab, almost serving as a modern day alternative to the venerable  Hindustan Ambassador. The advent of Bharat Stage 6 (BS6) norms is expected to make the diesel variant of the Dzire too pricey for most private car buyers. Maruti is likely to offer LPG and CNG variants on the car to keep it relevant  for private car buyers seeking high fuel efficiency.