Updated: Maruti Invicto 3-row MPV Expected Price Range (Hycross Rival) With Logic

Update (June 16, 2023): We recently learned that Maruti Suzuki will call their upcoming 3-row car Invicto instead of Engage. Additionally, we got a chance to sit down and have a chat with Maruti Suzuki’s Senior Executive Officer, marketing and sales. In our conversation, we got hints that Maruti Suzuki most likely won’t offer the Invicto with a manual transmission. Moreover, Maruti Suzuki are likely to offer a hybrid powertrain with ADAS. This flips our previous logic on its head. Here are our revised estimates for the upcoming Invicto’s ex-showroom prices.

Note: These are our Maruti Suzuki Invicto price estimations based on the information available as of June 16, 2023. Right now, we don’t have concrete information about the Invicto’s powertrain options. Once we get more details, we’ll update this article to reflect the revisions based on the brochure or new details.

Maruti Suzuki Invicto (Engage) — Powertrain/Engine Options

Earlier, our hypothesis was that Maruti Suzuki might offer different powertrain options than the Hycross to maintain product differentiation. Moreover, we were expecting Maruti to keep the top model’s price under Rs. 25.0 lakh (ex-showroom). This would have given customers enough time to digest buying a Maruti Suzuki car for such a high price.

With our recent conversation with Maruti Suzuki’s top official, we are beginning to tilt against this view. Instead, it looks like they are trying to streamline the production with fewer powertrain and variant options while expanding to newer, previously-unexplored segments. But based on the pricing of Fronx and Jimny, and our understanding after speaking with Maruti Suzuki officials, we feel like they are not shying away from pricing their products at a premium.

So, we are expecting Maruti Suzuki to hit the Rs. 30.0 lakh price point and possibly even cross it. Obviously, if they’re hinting towards offering ADAS, an efficient powertrain and launching a car without a manual transmission, we should assume that the powertrain options will remain the same as those of the Hycross.

Maruti Invicto (Engage) Price Range

Since Maruti Suzuki are calling it an MPV, we should expect them to sell it to fleet owners and commercial buyers. The base variant (equivalent to Hycross G FLT) could meet this requirement while the higher variant onwards, the Invicto could remain available for personal use. This car could also become their first Nexa offering available to commercial customers. Alternatively Maruti Suzuki may make the base variant available through Arena dealerships while the higher trims available for personal use could remain exclusive to the Nexa.

With the recently-acquired information, we believe that the Maruti Invicto could cost between Rs. 19.0 lakh and Rs. 31.0 lakh. We expect the variants to remain in line with those of the Hycross but carry Maruti Suzuki’s naming convention.

Since the Invicto is natively a Toyota’s product, buyers may have to pay a slight premium to get access to Maruti’s wide sales and service network. This price gap will pay for Toyota’s research and development spent towards the development of the Hycross.

Our View On The Matter - Now Invalidated (Published: June 10, 2023)

Following is our opinion on the Maruti Invicto prices based on our understanding of the industry and the information available as of June 10, 2023:

Before we get into estimating the prices, we first have to look at the possible powertrain options of the upcoming Nexa Invicto MPV. So far, all the shared and rebadged vehicles between Maruti Suzuki and Toyota have maintained the same powertrain and drivetrain options. This means that no rebadged car so far has introduced an exclusive engine-transmission or drivetrain option, which is not available in its sibling car.

All the powertrain options of the Urban Cruiser Hyryder are available with the Grand Vitara. Same goes for the Baleno and Glanza twins. Even when the rebadged Brezza was available from Toyota as Urban Cruiser, it had the exact same engine-transmission options.

So, we should have little doubt that this time it’ll be any different. Wait before you jump to any conclusions and hear me out.

Toyota had plans to continue with the Innova Crysta in their portfolio. With a diesel-manual powertrain, it could serve the commercial buyers. Meanwhile, making the Hycross an automatic-only vehicle limits its potential for commercial use even though it has the Innova badge. After all, fleet buyers are price sensitive and not keen on spending for driver comfort. This distinction was planned from the start.

With the Maruti Engage, the story is different. For the first time, they are entering the big leagues to challenge the likes of Tata Safari and Mahindra XUV700; not to mention, their cousin, the Hycross itself. Since we’re not used to seeing a Maruti car with a near-Rs. 30.0 lakh ex-showroom price, I’m reserving my comments about the potential for seeing a hybrid powertrain in the Engage — at least at the time of launch.

Moreover, as Maruti Suzuki are entering a higher segment, the option of a manual transmission will make it more affordable than the Innova Hycross, which only gets an automatic with the base 2.0L normal petrol engine. This will help them create some price overlap between the Grand Vitara and the Engage and encourage the buyers to go for a bigger car from Maruti Suzuki.

So, I’d say the Engage with a 2.0L normal petrol and a manual transmission makes plenty of sense even if it sounds like a pipe dream right now. The same engine with the CVT automatic is an easy guess.

As far as the hybrid powertrain is concerned, a sudden jump from Rs. 20.0 lakh ex-showroom car (Grand Vitara Alpha Plus hybrid dual-tone) to Rs. 30.0 lakh is too big to make in one go. They need to ease buyers into accepting that Maruti cars can also be more expensive. So, I’d say that limiting the Engage’s powertrain to normal petrol makes sense even for some higher variants.

Therefore, unlike the Innova Hycross, which only gets 2 variants with the normal petrol engine, the Maruti Engage could get 4 variants with the normal petrol engine. At a later stage, Maruti Suzuki may offer hybrid powertrain in the top 2 variants and introduce new top variants (Alpha Plus, Alpha Plus ADAS) with the same engine option.

Also Read: Updated - Honda Elevate Price Range (Creta Rival) — With Logic

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Maruti Suzuki Invicto (Engage) Variants

Initially, I’d say that their usual line of Sigma, Delta, Zeta and Alpha variants makes good sense for the Engage. While the manual transmission may be available in all 4 trims, the option of automatic may be available with the Delta variant onwards.

Once buyers are used to paying more than Rs. 25.0 lakh (ex-showroom) for a car with “Maruti” name on the RC, Maruti Suzuki may introduce the hybrid engine option and a new Alpha Plus with ADAS.

Maruti Invicto (Engage) Price Range

With the assumptions and guesstimates for Engage product strategy, I’d say that the Nexa Engage prices with the petrol-manual powertrain could start around Rs. 18.0 lakh (ex-showroom). The top-spec variant with the 2.0L normal petrol-automatic powertrain could cost around Rs. 24.50 lakh or a little higher but certainly under Rs. 25.0 lakh.

With these prices, the psychological gap of paying top dollar for a ‘Maruti’ car will become easier to digest. Once we’re used to this, they can choose to add a more expensive hybrid powertrain to the lineup and jump to Rs. 30.0 lakh (ex-showroom) or more. This way, the jump will remain in the Rs. 5.0 lakh at a time just like it was when their flagship vehicle prices jumped from XL6 (~Rs. 14.50 lakh) to Grand Vitara (Rs. 19.49 lakh launch price).

Also Read: Maruti Suzuki Engage (3-row SUV) Reveal On July 5

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