Isuzu will soon be launching an automatic variant of the not so well-known MU-7 premium SUV in India and it is expected to be priced at a premium of Rs. 1 lakh over its manual counterpart.
Isuzu is not a well known brand in India. The Japanese company which is headquartered in Tokyo is majorly known for producing commercial vehicles and diesel engines. Isuzu had launched the MU-7 SUV in our country a couple of years back and the vehicle has been as rare as the company’s name. It is assembled in Chennai and competes with the likes of the Toyota Fortuner, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, Hyundai Santa Fe and others in the very competitive SUV segment in India.
The Isuzu MU-7 is one gigantic SUV who’s major USP is its ultra spacious cabin. The 2-tonne vehicle is powered by a very capable 3.0-litre, four-cylinder, direct injection, turbocharged diesel engine that outputs 161 BHP of power at 3600 RPM and 333 Nm of torque between 1600 to 3200 RPM. At present, power is driven to the rear wheels through a 5-speed manual gearbox. Isuzu will be launching an automatic variant of the SUV later this month. The automatic variant is expected to cost around Rs. 25 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi).
The company is hoping to get more sales of the MU-7 through the automatic transmission. However, this seems less likely because though the vehicle has tremendous road presence and interior space, it misses out on many basic features that are available on vehicles that cost less than half of the MU-7. Also, rivals in the segment offer a lot more value for money with feature rich cabins and these turn out to be much better propositions overall. Anyhow, Isuzu needs to work hard on familiarising its brand with the public and reaching out to a much larger audience in India, if at all they want to make a good name in the passenger car segment.
