Maruti won’t be upgrading the Omni to meet the upcoming safety and emission norms and instead will focus on the Eeco.
The Maruti Omni was first launched in India 35 years back and even now it is selling in very good numbers, fetching an average of 7000 sales every month. The Maruti Omni has been a thoroughly successful car for the automaker and even though it is very basic and hasn’t got any major upgrades, it has continued its winning streak.
However, come July 2019 and new safety norms will kick in, while the BS6 emission norms will be effective from 2020. The Maruti Omni won’t be able to comply with these norms and the company won’t be upgrading the car either. Instead, Maruti will phase out the Omni and focus on the Eeco.
The Eeco is also a very popular 7-seater but it is priced a bit higher than the Omni. The Omni doesn’t sell much in urban areas now and most of its customers are based in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.
The new crash test norms will also kick in from October 2019 and the Omni won’t be able to comply with these either. In a statement, RC Bhargava from Maruti Suzuki said that sales of the Eeco are growing and it is a similar vehicle.
Currently, the Omni has a starting price of Rs. 2.87 lakhs while the Eeco starts at Rs. 3.37 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi). It remains to be seen how customers will react to this. Also, with the upgrades that the Eeco will get, it is possible that it might get a price hike.
With the new norms in place, vehicles will have to come installed with a driver-side airbag (minimum), speed warning system, seat belt reminder for driver & front passenger and rear parking sensors from July 2019.
Maruti Omni Phase Out
– The Omni has been selling successfully for 35 years
– It is available in a number of variants including cargo and ambulance
– Even now it sells more than 7000 units a month
Source – MoneyControl.com