One of the most recent additions to Maruti Suzuki’s Nexa retail chain is the Fronx, a crossover based on the hot-selling Baleno premium hatchback. First revealed at Auto Expo 2023, the Maruti Suzuki Fronx marked the return of Suzuki’s peppy 1.0-litre ‘Boosterjet’ turbo-petrol engine, which had attracted a majority of bookings before its launch. However, post the reveal of the Fronx’s price, the demand split changed drastically in favour of the comparatively sedate 1.2-litre, naturally-aspirated K12N petrol engine variants, revealed a senior company official.
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Speaking to carandbike, Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, shed light on how there was a dramatic shift in the bookings split for the Fronx after the prices for the crossover were announced in May.
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The 998cc, three-cylinder Boosterjet turbo-petrol puts out a peak 99 bhp and 148 Nm of torque.
“For the Fronx, 55 per cent of the bookings were for the Turbo and 45 per cent were for the K12, but once we announced the prices, there was a drastic change. Now, since the launch, 15 per cent of demand is for the Turbo, and 85 per cent of bookings are for the naturally aspirated variants”, Srivastava told carandbike.
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The Fronx – which takes a markedly different design and styling approach from the Baleno – was launched with the two petrol engines, but each engine option is available only in select trim levels. The less powerful 1.2-litre engine is available only in Sigma and Delta trims, while the 1.0-litre turbo-petrol is available only in the more expensive Zeta and Alpha trims. The only trim that offers both engine options is the Delta Plus, and variant-to-variant, the price difference between the 1.2 and the 1.0 is a full Rs 1 lakh.
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The 1.2-litre, naturally-aspirated engine is available only in Sigma, Delta and Delta Plus trims.
The gap between the most expensive 1.2-litre manual variant and the priciest 1.0-litre Turbo manual variant is wider still, at Rs 2.75 lakh, which further widens to Rs 3.70 lakh when comparing the most expensive 1.2-litre AMT variant with the priciest 1.0-litre Turbo automatic trim. Srivastava admitted that potential buyers seem to find greater value in the 1.2-litre variants – which are priced closer to the Baleno the Fronx is based on – than in the Turbo trims.
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“There seems to have been a movement post the announcement of the prices. The value buyers are seeing in the Turbo at that price is probably less than what they see for the naturally aspirated [variants]”, said Srivastava.
The Baleno RS was the first Maruti model to feature the 1.0-litre Boosterjet engine.
The Boosterjet turbo-petrol engine was originally introduced with the Baleno RS in 2017. However, the carmaker had pulled the variant – as well as the engine – off the market a few years later, citing low demand for the more powerful (but comparatively less efficient) engine.
Maruti Suzuki has so far received over 52,000 bookings for the Fronx since order books opened earlier in the year. The company continues to receive anywhere between 650-660 bookings for the Fronx on a daily basis, and is currently rolling out 10,000 units of the crossover every month.
The Fronx has added crucial sales volume to Maruti’s Nexa retail outlets, alongside the 5-door Jimny 4x4, which was recently launched at prices ranging from Rs 12.79 lakh to Rs 14.89 lakh (ex-showroom). The Nexa family is set to grow with the launch of the Toyota Innova Hycross-based Maruti Suzuki Invicto, which is slated for July 5.
