Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza has been the highest-selling SUV in its segment but its popularity suffered in the last financial year, which could be owing to the Hyundai Venue
Launched in 2016, the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza has enjoyed the numero uno status on the sales charts of its segment. The Brezza has pretty much been the undisputed leader of its segment as it has been clearly outselling its main rivals, which include Ford EcoSport, Tata Nexon, Mahindra XUV300 and Hyundai Venue.
However, in spite of leading the sales charts, the Maruti Vitara Brezza seems to have lost some of its popularity. Its sales dropped by 30 per cent in the last financial year, as the numbers slipped from 1,57,880 units in FY19 to 1,10,641 unit in FY20. A reason for this drop could be the advent of the Hyundai Venue in May 2019.
In the last fiscal, Hyundai Motor India Ltd, the country’s second-largest-selling carmaker sold as many as 93,624 units. Also, it can’t be ignored that the launch of the Venue happened some 50 days after the commencement of the new fiscal. Hence, from this, it’s quite clear that the introduction of the Hyundai Venue has clearly left a dent in the sales of the Vitara Brezza.
A reason for this could be simply that the Hyundai Venue is available in as many as three engine variants, The most affordable SUV in the portfolio of Hyundai is on sale in two petrol and a diesel engine variant. The base petrol motor is a 1.2-litre Kappe engine shared with the Grand i10 Nios, while the diesel motor is a 1.5-litre diesel unit that is a de-tuned version of the engine on offer on the new Creta. Finally, also on offer is a 1.0-litre turbo-petrol GDI engine that makes the Venue one of the most potent cars in its segment.
On the other hand, the Maruti Vitara Brezza has always been available with a single engine option. However, until recently, the SUV was on sale only with a diesel heart under the hood. With the facelift, the Brezza has got a BSVI-compliant petrol engine that has replaced the Fiat-sourced oil-burner available only the pre-facelift version.
Right not, it’s not known if the discontinuation of the diesel engine and the introduction of the less frugal petrol motor would impact the popularity of the Brezza. However, looking at the sales figures of the last financial year, it definitely looks like the Venue has got a chance at outclassing the Vitara Brezza.