Bookings for Maruti Suzuki Invicto to commence on June 19

Maruti Suzuki will commence bookings for its upcoming Invicto MPV from June 19, the carmaker has confirmed. The Maruti Invicto will be a badge-engineered sibling of the Toyota Innova Hycross, and will be the carmaker’s first model that will be priced above Rs 20 lakh in our market. This will also be Maruti’s third MPV following the Ertiga and XL6.

Maruti Invicto positioning
The company could be looking to enhance its brand image with the Invicto. Shashank Srivastava, executive director at Maruti Suzuki, believes that the lines between the SUV and MPV categories are increasingly blurring in the Rs 20 lakh-plus segment, and customers are essentially looking for a premium three-row experience.

Speaking to the media, Srivastava said, “Traditionally, so far, we have been looking distinctly at an MPV buyer and an SUV buyer. However, in this segment, the more we researched into it, found that there was a segment for a premium, three-row vehicle buyer, and it seems to be having very strong cross consideration. In that regard, it appears to be a single segment with similar requirements, similar motives to buy and similar income category.”

Maruti Invicto to be priced at a premium over Hycross
Just as Toyota produces the Grand Vitara at its Bidadi plant, the new Invicto MPV will also be manufactured and supplied to Maruti by the carmaker. The Invicto will be based on Toyota’s TNGA-C platform and use its 2.0-litre strong-hybrid powertrain, which means Maruti will have to pay royalty to Toyota for the same. Maruti is also expected to retain both 7- and 8-seater configurations for the Invicto.

The Invicto will, thus, be priced at a slight premium over the equivalent Innova Hycross variant. For refence, the petrol variants of the Innova Hycross are priced between Rs 18.55 lakh-19.45 lakh, while the strong hybrids are priced between Rs 25.03 lakh-29.99 lakh.

However, it will be interesting to see how Toyota shuffles the production of the Innova Hycross and the Invicto as both models will be produced on the same assembly line. Despite starting a third shift at its factory recently, the Hycross has a waiting period extending up to two years – in some places – for the strong-hybrid variants, and the Invicto is only going to add to that.

Maruti Invicto powertrains options
Maruti has confirmed that the Invicto will be powered by the Hycross' 183hp, 2.0-litre strong-hybrid powertrain mated to the e-CVT transmission. The 173hp, 2.0-litre petrol unit is also expected to be offered on entry-level trims, mated to a CVT transmission. Importantly, this will also be the first Maruti that’ll solely be offered with automatic gearboxes.

The Invicto will also have certain cosmetic tweaks to mark it apart from its Toyota sibling, and recent spy shots have already given us a look at the updated design.