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The Rediff Business Special/ New cars on the road

Modelled to make Maruti curl up its tail

The Hyundai Santro was launched on Wednesday in New Delhi.

It is going to scare the pants off the bossmen at Maruti, for sure.

They -- the Maruti men -- were expecting a bit of a flutter in their dovecote whenever they took time out from their internecine battles, but this? A new rival for the rather sharp as well as competitive price of Rs 299,000? It is not just going to compete with Maruti Zen but going to wade into Maruti 800 territory.

Just look at these facts: Santro is a shade longer than Zen. A whisker wider. A head that is taller. Santro is an era ahead in engine technology with a 3-valve 4-cylinder SOHC configuration. And generations ahead with multi-point fuel injection.

There is more. A computer controlled electronic ignition system. An iron cylinder block and an aluminium cylinder head. And a 999 cc engine churning out 55 bhp on a body weight of 776 kilogrammes. Its seating capacity is a wee bit lesser than the Ambassador. Cargo capacity is equal to two of the heaviest North America originating air suitcases that readers of Rediff On The NeT presumably lug back with them. Large 155/70 R 13 tyres as standard. Air conditioning as standard.

Actually, well worth a visit to the dealer, or e-mail them (hmidelhi@nde.vsnl.net.in), if you need to see their stuff neatly tabulated. And that is the base model.

Throw in power steering and power windows and central locking, and you still cost almost the same as does Zen. Maximum Rs 369,000 for all goodies. Bargain? You bet.

Your correspondent had been lucky enough to test-drive Santro at Irrungattukottai, near Sriperumbudur in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, in June. Then, price was the one factor they were not talking about. Till Tuesday night, the industry expectation was that it would match Zen's, at about Rs 350,000, for the base model. But Rs 299,000? It has left car-makers gasping. The car fits tall people, it has a stiff and vertical kind of rear seat which makes entry and exit very simple, and it, simply, appears comfortable.

There is a shadow of doubt on the inherent stability of such a tall-boy design for our Indian roads, compounded by the fact that Autocar of the UK has failed the related Hyundai Atos as well as the Daewoo Matiz in the reverse test.

But as a short test-drive on the rainy and slippery roads of Delhi showed, this car can wade through the worst of them. In any case, the price, which brings the pricing structure of Maruti 800 model into doubt, is what matters.

Everybody expected a car-war in the small car segment. Everybody figured there would be some amount of competitive pricing. But this has taken even the most hard-nosed of motoring journalists -- a few of whom were sprinkled around the otherwise usual corporate media invited for the world launch of the Hyundai Santro earlier on Wednesday -- by surprise.

Santro does not mark a flanking attack on or a salvo across the bows of the battleship Maruti Udyog Limited. It is more like the raid at Pearl Harbour by the Japanese in the World War II. People knew it was coming but the ferocity was unexpected. Sleepy heads at the 11th floor headquarters of MUL will, it seems, have to put on some fast boots if they want to stay anywhere.

Being complacent about the overwhelming 84 per cent market share may prove suicidal now for Maruti. This correspondent has received over one dozen calls from different worried people at MUL, half of whom have asked for help in finding new jobs.

Which is good news for the customer. The Indian buyer of small cars will now, finally, have something to choose from. And if the Santro is representative of the shape of things to come, then look out for a replica of the computer industry hitting the motor industry soon. Next month will always be better and cheaper...

The Hyundai Santro is open for bookings against full payments from October 8 to October 12, 1998, and deliveries from October 18, 1998. Production started on the September 9, 1998, and they hope to deliver up to 30,000 cars within the first three months itself.

On the downside is the rather downmarket image that Hyundai has the world over, their currently low service network (but moving fast, most of their dealers are spin-offs from other automobile companies) and, ahem, the fact that this multi-point fuel injection system still has to prove itself on Indian petrol.

And there lies the catch. Will it pass the acid test of the Indian roads?

Now that is going to be something to watch.

Specials