Maruti Vitara Brezza breezes past 150,000 sales in 17 months

The Maruti Vitara Brezza has notched yet another landmark – 150,000 sales in the domestic market. The milestone comes barely 17 months after the compact SUV – Maruti’s first – was launched on March 8, 2016. Since then, it has proved to be a real game-changer in the industry and even helped Maruti grab market share and top spot from UV market leader, Mahindra & Mahindra.  

Till end-June 2017, the Vitara Brezza had sold a total of 145,524 units, just 4,476 units shy of the 150,000 unit mark. Average monthly sales in the January-June 2017 period work out to 10,059 units a month. Given this, it can be surmised that the popular SUV has crossed the 150,000 sales mark in India.  

For Maruti, its first crack at the sub-four-metre segment has proved to be among its most successful launches in the recent past, ticking all the right boxes in terms of cabin space, equipment, safety and fuel economy.

Powered by the same 1.3-litre Fiat-sourced diesel engine (DDis 200) found on the Ertiga, Ciaz and S-cross, the Brezza develops a maximum power of 89bhp and 20.39kgm of torque. The SUV does the 0-100kph sprint in 13.3 seconds yet also delivers class-leading fuel efficiency of 24.3 kilometres per litre. 

True-blue disrupter
Despite being a late entrant in the booming compact SUV segment, the Vitara Brezza not only took on the likes of well-established players such as the Ford EcoSport and the Renault Duster but also managed to unseat the Hyundai Creta to capture the top spot in the UV sales chart in July 2016 and has since retained the top spot.

The Vitara Brezza has also helped power overall passenger vehicle sales and in the 17 months since launch, has been in the Top 10 PV chart for 14 months.

The surging demand for the SUV has helped Maruti sharply increase increase its market share in the UV segment. In FY2016-2017, the company was the No. 2 UV player with a 25.69% share, behind leader Mahindra & Mahindra which had 29.30%. Now, with the first quarter of FY2017-18 (April-June 2017) just over, Maruti has tilted the UV scales in its favour: 30.05% to M&M's 27.92%. 

The Vitara Brezza’s best monthly sales were in May 2017 when it went home to 12,375 buyers. With prices having reduced by up to 3 percent after GST kicked in on July 1, 2017, consumer demand for the SUV should accelerate even more.  

This Maruti’s ride to 150,000 unit sales has been a breezy one: 50,000 in seven months, 100,000 in less than a year and now 150,000 in 17 months. The numbers work out to an average of 8,823 units for every month or 294 units for every day! Each 50,000 sales landmark has come faster than the one before. With pre-GST jitters – for both OEMs and buyers – out of the way now, expect the next 50k sales to come even faster.