R-I-P Suzuki Grand Vitara and Kizashi

Production of the Kizashi sedan and the Grand Vitara SUV from the Suzuki stable, is rumoured to be ceased permanently. The Grand Vitara was built at Suzuki's Iwata plant while the Kizashi was being manufactured at Sagara in Japan.

Maruti had introduced the Kizashi in India in 2011. Being a CBU, the car wore an inflated price tag, and came with a petrol engine only; hence, it flopped in India.

The Grand Vitara first made its debut in India in 2003 in its XL-7 guise. It came in via the CBU route too and was powered by a 2.7 liter V6 petrol engine with 7 seats. It was much later in 2007 that the company brought in a 2.0 liter Grand Vitara (5-seater), refreshed it in 2009 and added a 2.4 liter petrol engine to it. Not much changed since then, including its poor sales performance in India in comparison to its closest rival - Honda CR-V.

Maruti is now betting big on a slew of launches in the future with an aim to capture 50% of the total market share in India. The new S-Cross (monococue) soft-roader will replace body-on-frame Grand Vitara, when introduced in 2015.

Source: just-auto