Maruti Suzuki India’s third-generation Wagon R, which was launched on January 23, 2019, has driven past the 400,000-units sales milestone in 30 months in the domestic market.
As per Autocar Professional’s data analytics, the popular hatchback has sold a total of 411,892 units from February 2019 through to end-July 2021 (see data table below). This makes for average monthly sales of 13,729 units, not bad considering the past 18-odd months have seen the passenger vehicle market badly impacted by the pandemic-induced loss of sales and lockdowns across the country.
At launch, the new Wagon R had prices starting at Rs 419,000 for the base LXi and going up to Rs 569,000 for the 1.2L ZXi auto. The new Wagon R, which sticks to its tall-boy roots, is very different from the second-gen model – what with a new platform, new design, more interior room and the option of a more powerful engine.
Like its siblings Ertiga, Ignis, Baleno and Swift, Swift and Dzire, the new Wagon R is engineered and built on the fifth-generation Heartect platform, making it lighter than the older model.
In addition to the proven 1.0-litre engine, the new Wagon R comes with a 1.2-litre engine, both offering high fuel efficiency – 21.5kpl for the 1.2L variant and 22.5kpl for the 1.0L variant, which is nearly 10 percent higher than the second-gen model. On the connectivity front, the new Wagon R comes with a SmartPlay Studio 17.78 cm infotainment system that combines smartphone, vehicle and cloud-based services.
Growing demand for Wagon R CNG
With the unabated price rise continuing for petrol, which costs more than Rs 100 a litre in the four metro cities, there is growing demand for CNG models in India. The New Wagon R was MarutiSuzuki’s best-selling CNG model in FY2021 (see table below).
Maruti Suzuki, with its six-pack of its factory-fitted S-CNG technology models – Alto, S-Presso, Celerio, Wagon R, Eeco and Ertiga – has the strongest line-up of these alternate fuel vehicles in India. In FY2021, the company recorded its highest-ever CNG car sales – 157,954 units – which accounted for 12% of its total PV sales of 12,93,840 units. And the Wagon R CNG was the biggest contributor to CNG model sales with 60,222 units or 38 percent.
Another growth-enhancing factor for the Wagon R is the sustained demand from rural India, which accounts for 40 percent of Maruti Suzuki’s sales. According to Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Director (Marketing & Sales), the Wagon R is the second-most popular buy for the company in town and country after the Alto. The Swift, Dzire, Eeco and the Baleno also see strong demand in rural India.
Maruti Suzuki and its partners invested around Rs 670 crore for development of the Wagon R, which remains a popular family car and has been bought by over 2.5 million buyers since its debut in 1999.