Maruti Suzuki India, has pulled the plug on the S-Cross SUV. Multiple Nexa dealerships have confirmed that it has been discontinued in India and dealers are moving the last available stock to customers. In fact, only the manual version of the S-Cross is available that too in limited numbers.
On the other hand, some dealerships confirmed that they are accepting bookings for Maruti Suzuki’s upcoming mid-size SUV shared with Toyota, most likely to be called the Maruti Suzuki Vitara. This makes sense as the carmaker dropped the ‘Vitara’Â name from the Brezza, which was formerly called the Vitara Brezza.
The upcoming Maruti Suzuki Vitara will be unveiled on July 20, and will go on sale in August. When launched, the Vitara will be Maruti’s most expensive offering in India and will compete in a crowded segment comprising the Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, Nissan Kicks, Skoda Kushaq, and the Volkswagen Taigun.
The Vitara will be based on the same platform as the recently unveiled Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder, and will even be built and supplied to Maruti Suzuki by Toyota. Both SUVs will share a few design elements, body panels, and even engines.
Coming to the engine, the Maruti Suzuki Vitara will sport the same 1.5-litre hybrid engine as the Hyryder. The engine, along with the hybrid motor will develop 113 bhp and 141 Nm of torque, paired with an automatic gearbox. The motor is likely to be paired to a 177.6V lithium-ion battery (similar to the Hyryder) that will offer a pure EV range of 25km.
Maruti Suzuki could also offer the tried and tested 1.5-litre petrol engine with the upcoming Vitara to keep prices in check, because few sources have revealed that the Vitara could be priced above Rs 20 lakh when launched, making it the most ‘expensive Maruti’ on sale in the country.
It is interesting to note that one of the reason that the S-Cross never sold well was the price. When initially launched back in 2015, it was the most-expensive Maruti Suzuki product and the first to be sold through Nexa dealerships. The S-Cross went on sale with two diesel engine options: the tried and tested 1.3-litre unit and a more powerful 1.6-litre mill.
Soon, owing to bad sales, Maruti gave the S-Coss a facelift in 2017 with a more upright front fascia, while killing the 1.6-litre engine option. However, even this did not appeal to customers as there was no automatic option, and soon, Maruti resorted to a petrol engine with an optional automatic gearbox.
