Suzuki Kizashi Roadtest

[tejasmehta990 4]

My guess was wrong as it is not possible because Suzuki Forenza is Chevrolet Optra and looks quite old so any kind of cosmetic change may not help.

How do I edit the post if by mistake submitted ?

[BonFre 0]

The price at which Kizashi has been introduced will probably give it a Vitara like future. Maruti better concentrate on B&B small hatches.

[Mr. Spock 0]

Suzuki kizashi - represents what I call lack of clear strategy in MSIL.

This product is flawed in many aspects especially borrowing switch gear from Swift( What are they thinking?), lack of Diesel , price- I feel it will go Vitara , A- star , Estlo's way 

[shanthanreddyp 0]

I think I get the idea now. Maruti just wanted to bring Kizashi as a premium option and doesn't care about it's sales one bit. It was never intended to be volume play' date=' hence they went CBU route to preserve their time. So this was just a brand building exercise. I was really disappointed. At best Kizashi's interiors can be compared with Corolla. Best of luck to MSIL. This can go the GRAND "KHATARA" way again for them.

[/quote']

You are right here.

If Maruti was confident of making headway into this segment it would have announced assembling the car here. If you see Mercedes announced CKD from the very first model it brought in because it had the confidence that it would sell here fore sure. And TATA preferred a wait and watch for its luxury brands of JLR.

 But Maruti Suzuki just want to leave a message that "i'm too in this segment, remember me!". but i think it is not serious of and great numbers here.

At this price point a lower segment Honda City is a better buy than this so expensive Kizashi. It will only a meager sales for sure.

[Durango Dude 2]

'Wow' factor attached to an Accord is totally missing. Accord's length is 4950 mm and that of Kizashi is just 4650!!! mm a good 300 mm less. Wheel base is 2700 mm a good 100 mm less than the Accord. I think, they can price it any way they want I don't think Indians are going to take the bait. Unless some miracle happens this cars going to go the Sonata Transform way, wait for a few months for 'hefty discounts' on piled up inventory.

Accord costs 18,72,000 ex showroom, Chennai, whereas the Kizashi costs Rs.16,66,834 ex showroom, Chennai. Whereas a Sonata Transform CRDI MT costs Rs. 16,11,735 ex showroom Chennai and is frothing at the mouth trying to do double digits every month.

Here are the figures, so do your math. Mind you there are discounts to be had on the Accord and that makes the deal a lot sweeter visa vis the Kizashi which at launch will definitely not have any discounts.

@tejas: Suzuki Forenza is nothing but Chevy Optra.

Durango Dude2011-02-04 07:49:26

[rahul1810 0]

@DD

Completely agree with you.If this was the price it was to be brought, they should not have brought it only. Unless and until they were giving something great to the customers, they cant charege it at the same price as competition. They should have brought it as CKD which would have brought the price closer to Civic levels.

This is the second time Suzuki  has done the same mistake. I dont think there are any more chances available for them. Grand Vitara which is said to be an excellent off roader is priced around 1500 Euros more than SX4 in Europe. That would mean a price tag of 10-11 lakhs at which price it would have sold pretty well and given tough fight to Scorpio. But instead they priced it near Endeavor and look what happened.

But it seem quite correct logically. Maruti would not want to wast resources, time and manpower on cars that would not sell atleast 1000 a month, and cars which the would have to sell at lower margins to undercut the competition. Form words doing the round SX4 diesel is expected to be announced in a couple of weeks and you can be pretty sure that its pricing wont leave us disappointed. Even in that Maruti needs to be careful, looking at upcoming Vernas and Fiestas and their extremely radical designs

[tushargoyal 0]

Who will pay for SUZUKI approx. 18 lacs ain't they small car expert people Suzuki expects people should try their 2.5 times more expensive than failed SX4. I forgot to mention Grand.Chatra oops Vitra success  

[rahul1810 0]

OT:

@tushargoyal

I would not call SX4 failed. In a segment where all its rivals barring City have diesel engines, it has managed to hold on to second position quite clearly. Upcoming diesel variant might even take the fight to City.

rahul18102011-02-04 18:06:13

[Durango Dude 2]

Who will pay for SUZUKI approx. 18 lacs ain't they small car expert people Suzuki expects people should try their 2.5 times more expensive than failed SX4. I forgot to mention Grand.Chatra oops Vitra success  

When theres a market for an almost 20L otr Tata:Aria, I don't see why Suzuki can't have something in that price range. Only thing the product doesn't stack up visa vis the competition which is rather fierce.

[ragav20693 0]

Don't grudge that the pricing is between Civic and Accord because the car itself is an in-between size. The Kizashi should has interior room comparable to a Cruze (i:e greater than Civic or Corolla , but Cruze sells for the same price). The apparent thing that has driven up the costs is that the interior plastics of this car is way above competition and rivals entry-level luxury cars.

Motorweek magazine which has great credibility in the USA mentioned that the 2.4 L I- doesn't has great power to pull 3300 pounds this car weighs.It goes from 0-60 mph (96 kmph) in 8.3 seconds which is quicker than a Camry I-4 and Accord I-4. But they called it disappointing. You know why? When they released the car, the marketing greats at Suzuki didn't want the car to be compared with typical family sedans since they believed that it rivaled the 3-Series and A4. Though it has comparable interior quality, 8.3 sec for 0-60 is SLOW for luxury sport cars.

[tejasmehta990 4]

This time Maruti Suzuki seems to have a plan in mind before launching  Kizashi. It is not like the Grand Vitara as it was launched very silently and was not even promoted aggressively.

Side by side Maruti should also launch Grand Vitara diesel and New Swift

than only Maruti Suzuki will be noticed by the premium car buyers.

May be Kizashi's future would be just like Sonata Transform. Even if it is a great product but due to brand image people will prefer to buy only small cars from Maruti.

[Durango Dude 2]

Maruti in effect put paid to all its D segment dreams. May Kizashi in India must be renamed 'Harakiri'.

[Pranab* 0]

How Much is the price?

[dr_nishu 198]

Kizashi evokes good response for Maruti

Girja Shankar Kaura/TNS

New Delhi, February 22

The country

[tejasmehta990 4]

Pareekh said:

[rahul1810 0]

@tejasmehta

350 bookings, looking at the price, brand equity and the competitors is very good.

[ishanb1 2]

I have no doubt that this is a great car, but I also believe that MSIL should launch more model of Kizashi with less features to make it more approachable to buyers who are looking to buy a car in 15 laks. 

[Anna Fletcher 0]

Post deleted: Spamming is strictly prohibited on the board.

BornFree2011-02-24 16:14:12

[itssanguine 0]

Suzuki's main test will come now. Response of initial lot of customers: what they feel about of the car, how niggle free is the experience, how dealer handle the affluent customers, how rich the overall experience is etc.

If all these aspects are covered then I see some potential Laura customers going to Suzuki stable. Personally, I don't rate brand image of Skoda as a cut above that of Suzuki's. In any case brand image is mostly overrated affair. After all companies with better brand value offers better quality car and thats how a brand is build. So if Suzuki can tick all the boxes and can pamper its customers,then ultimately word of mouth will help it to overcome the drawback of brand image.   

[tejasmehta990 4]

Valuing the brand in case of Maruti Suzuki is very tricky because in India Suzuki is one of the oldest and major market share holder of Automobiles with maximum dealer and A.S.S. network and also established local long term vendors. So in this way Maruti can be considered the best brand available in India.

Now if we see Brand in terms of luxury product than it can not be put in that category because Suzukis are available with everyone and is not like Skoda, Honda or any other premium cars.

Instead of trying to establish luxury products under Maruti Suzuki brand name the best way for Maruti Suzuki is to establish a new brand exclusive for luxury products just like Toyota who introduced Lexus to sell its exclusive luxury products under Lexus brand.

This will help Maruti Suzuki to give special treatment to it's luxury products as well as customers.

In case of Maruti's product people have confidence but due to lack of exclusiveness and being a brand common among mass the luxury products are hard to establish it's niche under Maruti Suzuki Brand name.

[Mr. Spock 0]

Kizashi is sure been a good Omen for Maruti with Kizashi having a 3 month waiting period  and already 400 prebooking under its belt and 350 cars waiting to be delivered  its been a dream start for Maruti A4 segment which has a low snob value.The deliveries have started from yesterday( 10th March 2011).

( source Business Line- March 7 2011)