With the new safety rules coming to India and mandatory safety equipment, a lot of cars got discontinued including the Maruti Omni, which resulted in the popularity of the Eeco to rise
The Indian government enforced the minimum safety equipment rule on the cars earlier this year. All the cars selling in the market now have to offer rear parking sensors, driver-side airbag, speed sensors and driver/co-driver seatbelt reminder as standard. From October 2019, all the cars selling in India will have to meet the Bharat New Vehicles Safety Assesment Program (BNVSAP) crash test norms too.
Maruti Suzuki has already discontinued the ageing Omni and the Gypsy in the market. Since the Omni has always been in high demand and has a very practical design for the consumers who want space, Maruti Suzuki Eeco is now the Omni replacement in their line-up.
The absence of Omni from the Maruti Suzuki line-up is quite evident and the direct impact can be seen on the sales figure of the Maruti Suzuki Eeco. Last month, the Maruti Suzuki Eeco saw a jump in sales. The manufacturer sold as many as 11,739 units on the vehicle in the market, which is a 49% jump over the 7,856 units sold in the same period last year.
Omni in the same period last year sold as many as 8861 units, which is a lot. It should be noted that the Omni remained in production for over 35 years in India and used to be sold in the market as a commercial goods vehicle as well as public transport. The design of Omni made it extremely efficient to carry large number of goods.
The updated Maruti Suzuki Eeco was launched earlier this year with the new safety features. It is currently priced at Rs 3.55 lakh, ex-showroom and gets ABS+EBD, speed alert system, seatbelt warning system for front passengers and a reverse parking sensor. The Eeco is available in 5 seater and 7-seater versions with an option of factory-fitted CNG system.