Hatch me if you can!

While other carmakers ready their new hatchbacks for launch, Maruti and Hyundai battle it out with theirs .

This month, two new large hatchbacks are ready to be launched – the much awaited supermini from Honda and the second all-new Fiat after the Linea. If you are all set to upgrade from your small hatchback to a bigger one, the timing and the choice couldn’t be better. It will be here, at the upper end of the small car spectrum, which will see intense competition with this month’s introduction of the Jazz and the Grande Punto.

Meanwhile the two major players, Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, are fighting their own private battle. With the introduction of the Ritz in May, Maruti Suzuki positioned the car between its key competitors, the Hyundai i10 and the i20. When you look at it, it’s a strategy that seems to be a virtual no-brainer, as the very product lent itself to straddle the space between the two Hyundais. The Ritz is bigger than the i10 in terms of dimensions (except wheelbase) and comes with a diesel engine option, but it is smaller than the i20. The Korean carmaker of course denies that the Ritz is competition to the i20.

“They are two different animals,” says Arvind Saxena, senior vice president-marketing & sales, Hyundai Motor India. “In international markets, the Splash (the international name of the Ritz) is a competitor to the i10 and not the i20.” The Korean carmaker of course feels pretty strong about it, as a leaflet that is being circulated within Hyundai as well as at its dealerships highlights 10 different aspects on how the i10 is superior to the Ritz.

Maruti Suzuki says that though the positioning of the Ritz has taken the competition into consideration, they had to dwell a lot internally as well – their portfolio has no less than seven hatchbacks rubbing fenders with each other. Mayank Pareek, executive officer-marketing & sales, Maruti Suzuki says, “Yes, we did consider the competition when it came to positioning the Ritz, but we also had to see how it fitted with regards to our Swift.”

The Swift factor comes into play because the Ritz is based on the Swift platform and shares among other things the diesel engine too. And in the next few months, the new-generation 1200cc K12 petrol motor which debuted in the Ritz will be offered in the Swift as well. So while the Ritz and Swift have a lot in common, the newer car is priced a bit cheaper – though Pareek hastens to say that the Ritz pricing is “introductory.” But it can’t be a sheer coincidence that the Ritz’s price overlaps those of both the i10 and the i20; as you can see, pricing a car in a closely fought space can be a complex interplay of various factors.

The product positioning of the three cars however don’t intersect, which allows the three products to express themselves differently despite the fact that they jostle in that narrow price band. For instance, though the Ritz lends itself to be a family car because of its tall-boy architecture and utilitarian imagery vis-a-vis its sporty, fun-to-drive sibling, the Swift, the positioning is more individualistic. Shot in the planned city of Putrajaya near Kuala Lumpur and other parts of Malaysia, the Ritz commercial is more about a successful executive rather than his brood.

“The Ritz’s ‘Live The Moment’ theme is all about an individual – he may be a family man, but he still needs his personal space. He has an individual streak, which goes well with the Ritz, as it is unique and there is no product like it,” says Pareek. He doesn’t commit himself to how many units of the Ritz he expects to sell each month, though he says traffic into the showrooms is “encouraging.”

Hyundai’s best-seller, the i10, of course has Shahrukh Khan endorsing it, including the virtues of its international quality 1.2-litre Kappa engine. And the i20, with its contemporary styling, highlights its cool quotient. “Clearly, this is a car which has a personality and makes a lifestyle statement. When we say it’s Uber Cool, we’re saying that it’s beyond ultra cool. It’s all about style packed with features,” says Saxena. It seems to be working for Hyundai. In May, 2,850 i20s were sold in the domestic market, and when the diesel i20 is launched within the next few months, the carmaker only expects that figure to move upwards. “The diesel engine will be yet another additional feature in the i20. The extra torque will make the drive peppier, yet it will be fuel efficient.” Hopefully, that enhanced performance will help Hyundai widen the gap between the i20 and the Ritz.