Did Tata Nexon dent sales of Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza?

Tata Motors stepped into the burgeoning compact SUV segment in India in September with the launch of Nexon. The segment already has Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Ford EcoSport and Mahindra TUV300. Hence, Tata Motors priced the Nexon very competitively at Rs 5.85 lakh for the base petrol to Rs 9.44 lakh for the top-end diesel (ex-showroom, Delhi). It looks like the aggressiveness in the pricing of the Nexon has made a slight impact on the sales of its rivals.

The leader of the compact SUV segment is undoubtedly Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza. India's largest carmaker sold 13,268 units of the Vitara Brezza in September, witnessing a slight dip in sales when compared to a month before. The company had sold 14,396 units of the Vitara Brezza in August 2017.

Tata Nexon's price undercuts Vitara Brezza's price by Rs 40-45,000 across variants. This seems to have attracted some customers towards Tata compact SUV over the Maruti Suzuki counterpart.

Also read: Tata Nexon vs Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza; which compact SUV scores in specs?

With the competition heating up and new Ford Ecosport slated to hit the road on November 9, the Vitara Brezza will find it tough to retain its supremacy in the segment. In addition, lack of a petrol motor and an automatic transmission could affect the Brezza's sales performance.

Tata Nexon already has a commanding waiting period of up to 6-8 weeks, cutting across all trims and variants. Buoyed by the positive response, the Mumbai-based company will be anticipating over 10,000 bookings within the first month of its launch.

The Nexon features a new and improved Impact design language that helps it to stand out among the lot. The coupe-ish stance, beefier wheel arches, stretched grille and a lot of cuts and creases on body panels adds unique character to the SUV.

The new indigenously made petrol and diesel engines are another plus point of the Nexon. The 1.5 Revotorq diesel and 1.2-litre Revotron petrol mills and its power figures are superior to rivals. The 1,198cc three-cylinder petrol mill will develop 108.5bhp at 5,000rpm and 170Nm of torque at 2,000-4,000rpm. The 1,496cc four-cylinder diesel mill will churn out 108.5bhp at 3,750rpm and 260Nm of torque at 1,500-2,750rpm.

Source: Autocar professional