Maruti Suzuki India Ltd on Wednesday launched a new mid-size sport utility vehicle, the Victoris, but stopped shy of revealing its price as it awaits clarity on the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate on cars in light of the GST Council meeting scheduled from September 3-4. Deliveries of the car are expected to start from September 22, depending on the outcome of the GST Council meeting.

The launch comes at a time when India’s biggest carmaker is exploring new avenues for growth following sluggish sales of its mainstay small cars over the past few years.

The Victoris, which will be manufactured at the carmaker’s newly commissioned Kharkhoda plant in Haryana, will come with multiple powertrain options: petrol, mild hybrid, strong hybrid and CNG.

“For our highly environment-conscious customers, we are offering Victoris with multiple powertrain options including Strong Hybrid and CNG. In fact, our engineers have intelligently modified the platform to accommodate the CNG tank under the body, allowing more boot space,” Maruti Suzuki managing director and CEO Hisashi Takeuchi said at the launch.

Maruti Suzuki has spent ₹1,240 crore in the development of the new model, Takeuchi said, adding that the Victoris SUV has also bagged a 5-star Bharat NCAP rating.

India’s largest carmaker by volume plans to sell the new SUV through its Arena showrooms, as it already has one mid-size SUV product in the Nexa outlets.

"In the Arena channel, we did not have a mid-size SUV. We are missing a big sales opportunity in the Arena channel. In Nexa, we have the Grand Vitara," said Takeuchi.

The strong hybrid version comes fitted with a locally-made lithium-ion battery. In August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the production at TDS Lithium-Ion Battery Gujarat Pvt Ltd (TDSG), Hansalpur, a joint venture among Toshiba, Denso, and Suzuki.

Victoris is Maruti Suzuki’s first car to get Level-2 ADAS with automatic emergency braking, blind spot warning, and lane departure prevention among others.

“We are confident that Victoris will resonate strongly with the new-age customers in India as well as across global markets. Very soon, we will begin exports of Victoris to over 100 countries, marking another significant milestone in our international growth strategy,” said Takeuchi.

Even as Maruti Suzuki boosts its SUV portfolio, the carmaker is also looking to introduce more small cars. "We are developing models for the small car segment, some are full model changes and some are new models. But priority now has to be given to SUVs," said Takeuchi.

Takeuchi said the carmaker is not forgetting about small cars, its core business. "We will keep introducing small cars. Our target is to maintain our share in the small car segment," he said.