While the Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara sold a total of 5 units in the past 3 months, the importance of this compact SUV cannot be ignored. The Suzuki Grand Vitara is a hot selling vehicle in its home market in Japan, where it is sold for a reasonable amount. In India, the Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara retails at an on-road price of Rs. 21.67 lakhs in Mumbai for the 2.4 MT variant and Rs. 23.33 lakhs for the 2.4 AT variant. The vehicle being brought via the CBU route is to be blamed for the exorbitant pricing of this 5-seater SUV.
Now Suzuki has given the Grand Vitara a small facelift in Japan, which gives the vehicle a fresh appearance on the outside. The interiors have had very minor changes, mainly to the seats and door pads. The Grand Vitara now sports revised headlights, new front grille, a new front bumper, new alloy wheels, re-positioned number plate holder and the removal of a tail-gate mounted spare. A special edition model (called X-Adventure) has been added to the line-up which has chrome inserts all around along with 18-inch wheels, sunroof, rear spoiler and red inserts on the interiors.
Maruti Suzuki will bring in this facelifted model to Indian shores soon, as the current Grand Vitara is imported from Japan. However there can be a delay as the company will have to get rid of existing stock. The Grand Vitara has huge potential in the Indian market but Maruti Suzuki thinks otherwise. If the company opts to locally manufacture the compact SUV in India, prices can drop by 100%, resulting in the Grand Vitara being priced at a shade above Rs. 10 lakhs. Give it a diesel engine and see how the Renault Duster runs for cover. But alas, that is not happening anytime soon.
