The empire fights back! The full price list of the new Maruti Brezza has just been leaked. The car starts from an introductory 7.4 lakh rupees for the 1 liter turbo petrol engined LXi manual trim. The new motor makes 110 PS-170 Nm (nearly 10 horses more than the Fronx, and a hefty 23 Nm more).
And at this price point, Maruti has gunned for market leader Tata Nexon, by pricing the Brezza Facelift at exactly the same starting price as the Nexon 1.2 turbo petrol (7,4 lakh).
As for other competition, the Brezza Facelift is cheaper than every other turbo petrol SUV in its segment – the Skoda Kylaq (7,59 lakh), Mahindra XUV 3XO (7.79 lakh). And of course the Kia Sonet (8.85 lakh), and Hyundai Venue (8.9 lakh).
Maruti has pulled off a pricing masterstroke with the new Brezza. While I can’t talk about the way the heavily updated Brezza (I won’t call it a facelift) drove until 11 am tomorrow, what I can confirm is the turbo petrol engined SUV is going to give competition sleepless nights.
Why? Because the handicap that the Brezza always faced – without a turbo petrol in its line-up – is finally gone. And it’s not just gone, it’s come with a massive price benefit thanks to the GST structure. For 7.4 lakh, you get a turbo petrol engine with 110 horses, 170 Nm, 6 speed manual, ABS, 6 airbags, reverse parking sensors and projector headlamps.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, last year, cut GST on sub-4 meter cars. Cars with petrol engines displacing under 1.2 liters, saw GST getting slashed from 40 % to 18 %. While nearly every sub-4 meter SUV became cheaper thanks to this cut, the Brezza didn’t. It didn’t have a sub-1.2 liter petrol engine to take advantage of this mega tax cut.
Not surprisingly, Maruti went back to the drawing board. And quickly managed to fit the 1 liter-3 cylinder BoosterJet turbo petrol engine of the Fronx, into the Brezza. So, the Brezza now can take full advantage of the GST cut.
Result? A 7.4 lakh starting price for the most powerful version of the Brezza ever made. In fact, this also makes the Brezza Turbo Petrol Maruti’s most powerful turbo-petrol car, ever. Process that!
And they’re right! It’s easier to change an engine than driving habits. Maruti knows this. And that’s exactly why the 1.5 naturally aspirated K15C is offered alongside the new turbo petrol BoosterJet.
Most people who drive petrol cars in India drive a certain way. They’re used to peak torque coming in at about 4,000 rpm. So, they rev their petrols to 4,000 rpm.
On a turbo petrol, this comes with a big mileage penalty as turbo petrols need to be only driven at half the rpm for peak torque. Shifting gears at 2,000 rpm is what a turbo petrol needs for peak mileage and driveability.
So, if you want mileage, you need to upshift at half the rpm on a turbo petrol. This is a minor change in driving habit but a large chunk of people used to a naturally aspirated petrol fail to make this change.
They then complain that turbo petrols are inefficient, and gulp fuel. Add E20 petrol to this equation, and you have a situation where many simply don’t want small turbo petrols. Maruti knows this!
So, the 1.5 liter K15C continues, but with a higher compression ratio to squeeze out even more mileage. How? By making full use of the higher octane that E20 petrol brings to the equation. And this also means that we’re not going back to E0 petrol anytime soon. Big car companies know fuel policy before you and me do. Wink!
Maruti has also added an extra gear to the K15C. The new 6 speed manual gearbox should make highway cruising much more efficient and stressfree. Especially, compared to the older 5 speeder that used to make the engine protest at higher speeds. The same gearbox goes into the CNG version of the 1.5 K15C too, which means even the CNG is going to enjoy being driven on the highway.
CNG dispensing infrastructure is rapidly expanding even on highways. Maruti has even made the new Brezza CNG ready for the highway by bringing under-body CNG tech from the Victoris. This means that you get a fairly usable 328 liter boot even on the Brezza CNG.
No more luggage space penalty when you choose CNG, and this means that the Brezza CNG will be a happy mile muncher, with a full load of luggage sitting happily in the boot. CNG is the new diesel!
The Brezza CNG at 9.3 lakh for the base LXi trim, is nearly a lakh costlier than the Tata Nexon iCNG, which also benefits from a reasonably sized boot thanks to the dual tank CNG tech on it.
The GST disadvantage that the Brezza suffers from thanks to the 1.5 K15C engine shows up here but this is pretty much what can be done given the tax structure. So, the CNG isn’t big on value although it does make things up a bit through the practical underbody CNG tank tech.
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