Maruti Vitara 7 seat SUV coming to India: Mahindra XUV500 challenger?

Maruti Suzuki’s sub 4-meter SUV, Vitara Brezza has gradually become the best selling compact SUV, outselling its competitors by more than three times. The segment was spearheaded by the Ford Ecosport before the arrival of the Brezza and  going by the current success the SUV has seen, we are almost sure that Maruti has now bigger SUV plans in mind.

GaadiWaadi now reports that Maruti is indeed working upon a seven seater SUV which will rival the likes of Hyundai Creta and the upcoming Nissan Kicks.

The SUV will be positioned above the Maruti Suzuki S-cross and will be the flagship product of the company’s lineup. To let you know, Maruti Suzuki has not yet tasted success in the market of big SUVs. It launched the Grand Vitara few years back but it never gained any sales traction and was among the rare failure the company had in India. However, Maruti Suzuki will definitely look towards changing that especially now when it has some experience in the compact SUV segment. The Indian auto market has been slowly and gradually shifting away from hatchbacks to compact sedans and now towards SUVs and crossovers.

Talking of the Grand Vitara, it is currently in its third generation and is available in many international markets as the Suzuki Grand Vitara. The SUV recently received a facelift and was first launched in 2005. The current generation model is also due to be replaced bu a newer variant and it will reportedly happen in near future. Maruti has seen tremendous success in all segments under Rs. 10 lakh but has failed to make a mark above that. Its premium sedan Kizashi also didn’t make it big and we have already discussed above the SUV. however, the company has been learning lessons one at a time and has now conquered the B-segment sedan class too with its Ciaz.

The rise in the demand of compact SUVs is because of many reasons. Compact SUVs and crossovers have made city driving more easier and are no longer difficult to park. While they may not be able to do real SUV type off roading, most of the people don’t need that. Modern SUV also offer much better fuel efficiency which is comparable to sedans. Higher seating position and good road presence are among the other reasons why there has been a push in the sales of SUVs lately. and this trend is definitely here to stay for the coming couple of years. With the focus on more eco friendly energy production methods, many companies have started developing electric SUVs too.

The new Maruti seven seater SUV is expected to come loaded with a ton of features. A fuel efficient engine is also expected, since that is one of Maruti Suzuki’s USP in India. Tata is also planning a seven seater SUV called H7X and we can say that the coming time will give us some pretty good full size SUVs.