The New Maruti Suzuki Dzire Won’t Be A Taxi

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. has limited sales of the new Dzire, its safest car till date, to private buyers, while fleet operators will have to make do with the previous generation of the car.

“We are targeting the private buyer (with the new Dzire),” Hisashi Takeuchi, chief executive of India’s largest carmaker, said on the sidelines of the launch of the fourth-generation Maruti Suzuki Dzire in New Delhi on Monday. “So, we will introduce this car to the private buyer and keep selling the previous generation to the fleet segment. That’s how we will differentiate both the markets (hereon).”

That’s noteworthy, since two out of every three Maruti Suzuki Dzire cars sold are used as taxis in the world’s third largest automotive market. Over 1.65 lakh units of the compact sedan were sold in Fiscal 2024. In the first six months of Fiscal 2025, more than 75,000 units have been sold despite a demand slump in the wider industry.

On 8 November, the Global NCAP accorded a five-star crash-test rating to the new Dzire—a first for the Delhi NCR-based automaker whose cars, though best-selling, have often faced social media scrutiny over their build quality. The previous generation had a two-star rating.

The sedan now gets six airbags and 15 other safety features as standard.

“Maruti Suzuki cars have always been safe. It’s just a social media frenzy (on build quality),” Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer in-charge of sales and marketing at Maruti Suzuki, said on the sidelines of the launch event. “For us, customer safety is paramount. Our cars are very safe, and meet all the regulations of the law of the land.”

The new Dzire is a case of several firsts. It’s the first car in the entry-level sedan category to get an electric sunroof, a 360-degree camera as well as a real-time tyre pressure monitoring system. At an introductory price of Rs 6.79 lakh onwards, the new car is offered in four variants, two powertrains, two feature packs and seven colourways. It squeezes out 25 km from each litre of petrol that goes into its three-cylinder 1.2-litre internal combustion engine.

To be sure, the Dzire is India’s fourth highest selling car of all time—it has been among the Top 10 best-selling cars every year since launch in 2008. Maruti Suzuki has so far shipped 27 lakh units of the car to private buyers and fleet operators alike.

On Monday, Maruti Suzuki shares rose 0.86% to Rs 11,404.95 apiece on the BSE even as the benchmark Sensex ended the day 0.01% higher at 79,496.15 points.