Affordable Passenger Vehicles available in Indian market to buy - Part II

Hello guys, first of all let me wish you a very happy new year !!!!! . Hope year 2021 brings health & prosperity to you and your family.

Welcome once again to my blog on Affordable passenger vehicles in Indian auto market- Part II. In part –I of the blog we have discussed about classification of passenger car and options available to buy. This time we will focus on another exiting segment i.e. Utility vehicles.

Classification of Utility vehicles:

Primarily utility vehicles classified into 3 types i.e. Sport Utility Vehicle , Multipurpose Utility Vehicle and pickup vehicles. From below chart you can get idea how utility vehicles are classified. Unlike passenger cars, utility vehicles have diverse application i.e. it’s not just used as people carrier but for transport of good. We will see details about one by one.

 

A) Sport Utility Vehicle:

Well one segment in passenger vehicle that transformed in last 10 years is SUV’s. Customers prospective towards SUV have been changed a lot. Earlier this segment was known for its large size, off roading capability and diesel guzzling engines, however there has been addition of entire new segment i.e. compact SUV’s which made this popular amongst city customers. Hence this segment giving tough completion to car segments. 

SUV’s can be classified based on length and application as Compact SUV’s, Mid size SUV’s, Premium SUV’s and off roader vehicles.

i) Compact SUV (Below 4 M Length ): 

Currently this segment of SUV is like hot cake in the market. This is also youngest of all, thanks to Ford Ecosport which created this segment back in Jan 2012.  After that its Maruti Suzuki Brezza which made this segment very popular amongst urban buyers. Now almost every OEM have one or more product in this segment and surprisingly almost every product have making lots of fortune for their company.

Key features of vehicle from this segment are:

• It's Sub 4 meter vehicle, hence its suitable for city driving condition and fits in government's tax relaxation bracket.
• Good interior space  due to more width and height compared to hatchbacks.
• Safety: One distinct advantage of this segment over hatchbacks is to have safer body structure. GNCAP results also indicates the same,  Mahindra XUV 3OO (which is safest SUV in country ) & Tata Nexon , both are 5 star vehicles. 
• This vehicles have DNA of good city vehicle and decent off-road capability (thanks to reasonable ground clearance) . One thing needs to considered that big SUV’s due to larger ground clearance are prone to roll over. (since center of gravity is situated at a height from ground). However compact SUV have lesser tendency of roll over compared to big SUV’. 
• Most vehicles from this segment offers both petrol & diesel engine option, even after BSVI. Earlier Maruti had announced to for Petrol only strategy post BSVI, but as per recent news Maruti also working on Diesel engine for this segment. 
• Lots of option available for customer as shown below i.e. Maruti Suzuki Brezza, Tata Nexon, Ford Ecosport, Mahindra XUV 3OO, Kia Sonnet, Hyundai Venue etc

ii) Mid size SUV (Around 4.3 m):

This segment vehicles are SUV with more than 4m length (around 4.3 m). It is having all the advantages of compact SUV but goes into higher price bracket of above 10 lakh.

Option available in this segment are Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, Renault duster and Nissan Kicks. Surprisingly no Indian OEM offers product in this segment, which is currently dominated by Hyundai and new entrant i.e. Kia.

Even with added cost Hyundai Creta is topping charts in this segment.

iii) Full Size SUVs:

Originally segment from these vehicles used to be termed as SUVs. 

Key features of these vehicles are:

• Strong rugged body construction good for any roads.
• Muscular powerful engines (mostly dominated by diesel ) with huge torque values which can climb any road with ease. 
• Most of the vehicles offers 4 wheel drive option which makes it heaven for off road fans. 
• Comfortable cabin and huge interior space for long journey. 
• Due to larger ground clearance and upward C.G. tendency of roll over.
• This segment has separate fan base for its vehicles. Mahindra & Tata have legendary products like Safari, Scorpio, XUV 500 and recent Tata Harrier etc. New entrant likes of MG hector and Jeep Compass also gaining popularity.  Bollywood and south movies made vehicles like Scorpio, safari huge popular amongst customers (You can see extraordinary stunts made with Scorpio in many movies ).

iv) Premium SUVs:

Well if you want get feeling of seating in tank running at high speeds on roads, these are the vehicle you should buy. These are premium SUV’s loaded with all high end tech features.  Products like Fortuner is hugely popular amongst politician in tier I cities.

Price range of this segment is more than 20 lakh, which is having products like Toyota Fortuner, Ford Endeavour, Honda CRV, Hyundai Tuscon, Skoda Koraq, VW T Roc, VW Tiguin etc. No product from any Indian OEM (mostly due to low sales volume)

v) Off Roader:

Yes as I said, SUV’s can do off roading but If you want specialist for this,  then Off roader SUV is the answer. Once this segment was loaded with lots of products (mainly dominated by Mahindra), However due to stringent safety norms and other factors merely two  well recognized Off roader vehicles are there in market i.e. Mahindra Thar and Force Gurkha.  (Maruti planning to launch Gymny in the market mostly this year)

Key features of vehicle are:

• Off roading capability like huge ground clearances, ability to climb steep roads (large ramp over angle) etc.
• Can drive through deep water, where normal vehicles can’t operate. 
• Don’t expect any comfortable interior with these kind of vehicles. 
• Off course driving through city traffic will gets jeopardized.

B) Multi utility Vehicles:

MUV’s are popular name for 7 seater vehicles, these vehicles are popular in both personal as well as tourist purpose.  Earlier you see except cars most of the passenger vehicles used to be 7 seater like Tata Sumo, Sierra, Toyota Qualis etc. However due to modern trend of smaller family sizes, 7 seater vehicles became separate segment itself.

Key features of this segment are:

• Comfortable space for bigger family, third seat option which can be folded to make bigger boot space.
• Comfortable for longer travel.
• Powertrain options of Petrol, Diesel and CNG which offer economic drive.
• These 7 seaters come up with both in economic range and high end premium vehicles.

i) Economic MUV’s:

Option available with Maruti-Suzuki Ertiga, XL6, Mahindra Marrazo, Renault Triber, Mahindra Bolero, Datsun Go+, Maruti Eeco (can be considered in Van segment)

Surprisingly vehicle like Renault Triber and Datsun Go + are below 4m vehicle still are 7 seater vehicle. (Don’t ask about comfort of passenger seating in 3rd Row)

 

ii) Premium MUV’s: 

These are premium MUV’s loded with all high end tech.  Kia carnival, Toyota Velfire and Innova crystal are current option available to buy.

C) Pick Up Vehicles:

Pickup vehicles in US or European market is famous in personal segment where people used this kind of vehicle as picknic vehicle. This is not the case in Indian market where pickup is mostly used as commercial vehicle for transportation of agricultural goods.

Key requirements of these vehicle are large luggage space & loading capacity, good mileage etc.  Popular options are Mahindra Bolero, Tata Yodha & new entrant as Isuzu D max etc.

So this is it,  hope you will find this blog useful. If you like this blog please subscribe (Button at top of blog)  to get alert notification & write comments for any feedback. 

We will meet again with some more interesting topics.