The slowdown in the auto industry is taking a toll on all the makers and the largest carmaker of India, Maruti Suzuki is no stranger to the same. Apart from offering massive discounts on their diesel products, the maker has now come up with a scheme wherein the company is offering a 5 year warranty plan on the diesel models of 4 products in its line-up. These cars are from both the Arena and NEXA line-up of the maker. From the Arena range, the new 5-year warranty plan is available for the Maruti Suzuki Swift, Maruti Suzuki Dzire and Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza. As far as the NEXA range is concerned, the maker is offering the extended 5 year warranty plan with the S-Cross crossover.
The warranty program from the company involves 5-year or 1 lakh kilometre warranty for the cars. This is a huge shift up from the standard 2-year or 40,000 km warranty offered by the maker on these cars. The new customers will have to pay zero charges to avail this offer, while the existing customers can pay a small amount to get the benefit of the extended warranty program. This warranty will be applicable to the country-wide dealership network of 1,893 towns and cities.
The executive director for sales and marketing at Maruti Suzuki India Limited, Shashank Srivastava spoke on the occasion of the latest offer from the brand and stated,
“Dzire, S-Cross, Swift and Vitara Brezza are our flagship products, which played a pivotal role in transforming not just Maruti Suzuki but the Indian automotive industry itself. These marquee brands are loved for their performance by millions of customers and critics alike. These pioneering brands will continue to play a prominent role in our future product portfolio. As a small gesture of our gratitude to the admirers and prospective buyers, we are offering a free 5-year, 1-lakh km warranty on the entire diesel line up of these models to ensure a worry-free ownership experience,”
It would be ignorant to say that this new scheme by Maruti Suzuki is being run only because of the slowdown that the industry is witnessing as a whole. The renewed rivalry across the segments that the brand is facing is also to be termed responsible for this move from the brand. While the S-Cross was never a great seller in the market, the Vitara Brezza sub-4 metre SUV was recently dethroned from the top spot in segment by the new Hyundai Venue. Hyundai is attempting to do something similar in the mid-size hatch segment with the launch of Grand i10 NIOS and continued sale of the old Grand i10 in the Indian market. Talking of the warranty, the new 5-year or 1 lakh warranty plan is applicable to the host of parts and under warranty, these parts will be replaced when found faulty by the brand. The parts that are covered are the high-pressure pump, compressor, Electronic Control Module (ECM), turbocharger assembly, critical engine and transmission parts and other such parts.