New Maruti Ertiga Gets 23,000 bookings in just one month

India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki unveiled the all-new second-generation Ertiga MPV in India last month. A new report by ET Auto states that RS Kalsi, the Senior Executive Director (Marketing & Sales), at Maruti Suzuki India Limited said that the carmaker received 23,000 bookings for the new Ertiga since its launch late last month. The Maruti Senior Executive Director also stated that Maruti would be launching a new model in January 2019, which is most likely the new Wagon R tallboy hatchback.

While the launch of the upcoming Wagon R is expected, it is the number of bookings the new Ertiga has garnered in just a month’s time that should give Maruti a reason to smile this December. The Maruti Ertiga was launched just a small amount of time after Mahindra launched its own large MPV in the form of the Marazzo, which is larger than Ertiga in terms of dimensions while costing the same as the higher-spec models of the previous-gen Maruti people carrier.

Maruti however, had its own ace up its sleeve as it launched the new Ertiga in India with a new design that is reminiscent of the king of the MPVs in India, the Toyota Innova. In addition to the new looks, the new Ertiga bough a much larger wheelbase than before and Maruti did not hike the price by a massive amount compared to the older car despite the arrival of a new 1.5-litre petrol engine that first debuted in the Ciaz, a few months before.

Also, Maruti gave the Ertiga a host of new features and upped the safety quotient of the MPV as well to make it an even more attractive option to customers. With prices starting at Rs 7.44 lakhs for the base petrol and going all the way to Rs 10.90 lakhs (all prices mentioned are ex-showroom) for the top-of-the-line diesel variant, the second generation of the Ertiga MPV undercut its Mahindra rival by a very significant amount in terms of pricing, which has reflected in the large booking numbers only a month after the car’s launch.

The Maruti Suzuki Ertiga MPV is offered with two engine options. The larger of the two powerplants is the new 1.5-litre petrol engine that first debuted in the facelifted Ciaz sedan. the new K15B is the first petrol engine to be paired with Maruti’s SHVS mild hybrid setup which helps improve the fuel efficiency of the petrol Ertiga. The 1.5-litre petrol engine produces 104 Bhp and 138 Nm of torque which is sent to the front wheels via either a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed torque converter automatic transmission. The petrol Ertiga returns a mileage of 19.34 km/l with the manual gearbox and 18.69 km/l when paired with the auto transmission.

The 1.3-litre turbo diesel engine, on the other hand, is retained from the first-gen Ertiga and produces 89 Bhp and 200 Nm of torque and is paired with a 5-speed manual gearbox. The diesel Ertiga returns a mileage of 25.47 km/l.