The Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur is unusual and deeply reminiscent of the domes and columns of the north and south blocks at New Delhi’s Raisina Hill. That is because the British architect of the palace, Henry Vaughan Lanchester, was a contemporary of Edwin Lutyens, the designer of India’s Capitol complex. Umaid Bhawan is considered by many as the last of the palaces built before India attained Independence. Inside this stately home, you feel like you are transported to another era of opulence and luxury.
Unsurprisingly, this is where Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest carmaker, wanted to showcase its most expensive vehicle to the media for the first drive. Much like how Umaid Bhawan resembles New Delhi’s secretariat building, the Invicto is essentially the Toyota Innova Hycross with a few minor changes and garnishes. Sure, when you start the car, the instrument cluster and infotainment panel flash Suzuki’s ‘S’ logo instead of Toyota’s ‘T’. The alloy wheels are slightly different, and the changed headlights and taillights incorporate Maruti’s ‘Nexa’ brand identity. But make no mistake; this is the Innova Hycross. However, the extra chrome on the exteriors makes Invicto look more proportional than Hycross.
Even its drive seems similar to the Hycross, which, as I mentioned in my review last year, is a delightful car to drive. However, there are a couple of differences. The Invicto is only available with the Hybrid drivetrain option and lacks the Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) features found in Toyota’s top-spec variants of Hycross. While it may put off some buyers, it helps Maruti-Suzuki to price its top-spec Invicto for almost Rs 2 lakh less than Toyota’s equivalent variant.
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Smooth on the road
Here is the thing. An overwhelming majority of Innovas and Invictos will not be driven by their owners. The comfortable captain seats in the second row mean that owners prefer being driven in these cars. And that is a pity because they are nice to drive. On the highway that heads from Jodhpur to the former fiefdom of Khimsar, the car felt both sturdy and handled well. Despite the presence of freight trucks on the two-lane road, weaving in and out of traffic was relatively smooth, and even when testing the rear seats, the car exhibited quite a measured body roll.
Yes, there are some issues, such as the noise from the ‘Atkinson Cycle’ engine and the fact that the car slows quite a bit when you lift off the accelerator pedal—both facets of hybrid vehicles. But you can deal with the former by playing music through the infotainment system and the latter by adjusting your driving style.
Would you, however, spend over Rs 30 lakh on a Maruti-Suzuki? That is what Invicto’s Alpha+ variant will cost on the road (with an ex-showroom price of Rs 28.4 lakh in New Delhi).
Maruti Suzuki has tried selling premium vehicles before as well, but it hasn’t quite cracked the market. The original two generations of the Maruti Grand Vitara SUV, and even the Kizashi sedan, can be considered sales failures even though they were all excellent cars. This time around, things could be a bit different. Maruti-Suzuki owns the premium Nexa retail outlets, and the strong demand for new vehicles should benefit the carmaker. In fact, if you want to buy a high-end Toyota Innova Hycross, you will have to wait until 2025 for delivery due to high demand.
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Toyota X Maruti Suzuki
Shashank Srivastava, the company’s executive director, is positive that Maruti-Suzuki has managed to move upmarket over the past few years. “We are a market leader in the Rs 15-20 lakh segment now, where we were barely present a few years ago. And we already have over 6,500 bookings for the vehicle,” he said. But on for the critical question that many potential customers are asking: how long will the waiting period be? “It depends on our partnership with Toyota, but I hope they can provide us [with] as many cars as they can. However, please understand that we are still competing in the market, and our prices are set independent of what Toyota charges,” answered Srivastava.
Maybe Maruti-Suzuki is taking a slight hit to its profit margins compared to Toyota as this is a new segment in terms of vehicle and price range. But given the current state of the market, there is little doubt that you will see quite a few of these cars on the roads in the coming months. The future plans for Maruti-Suzuki and its partnership with Toyota are still under wraps. Some say a Toyota-badged variant of the Ertiga called the Rumion, which is currently exported from India, will be sold in the domestic market as well. The discussions between the Toyota and Suzuki families are still a secret, but with the success of Invicto, things could change sooner rather than later.
@kushanmitra is an automotive journalist based in New Delhi. Views are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)