Maruti Vitara Brezza: 0-200,000 in 20 months

Notching sales milestones in a hurry is becoming a habit for the Vitara Brezza, Maruti’s game-changing SUV. Four months after it breezed past the 150,000 sales landmark in July 2017, the popular SUV has now zipped past the 200,000 sales mark in the domestic market in a scant 20 months.

Launched on March 8, 2016, the SUV has averaged monthly sales of 10,005 units and in the process helping the company grab market share and dethrone Mahindra & Mahindra in the UV market stakes. 

The scale of the Vitara Brezza domination in the UV market can be seen from the fact that longstanding No. 2 model, the Hyundai Creta took 25 months to cross the 200,000 unit sales mark. Launched in June 2015, the Creta has till end-October 2017 sold a total of 22,4015 units,    

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 20 months since launch, has been in the Top 10 PV chart for 17 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%. At present, after the first seven months of FY2018, Maruti has tilted the UV scales in its favour: 28.43% to M&M's 26.31%. 

The Vitara Brezza’s best monthly sales were in July 2017 when it went home to 15,243 buyers. Since then, sales have slowed down marginally, what with new competition in the likes of the Tata Nexon, Jeep Compass, facelifted Ford EcoSport and more recently the Renault Captur.  

The Maruti Vitara Brezza’s ride to 200,000 unit sales has been a breezy one: 50,000 in seven months, 100,000 in less than a year, 150,000 in 17 months and now the 200,000 landmark in 20 months. The numbers work out to an average of 10,005 units for each month or 333 units every day!