Maruti Suzuki India is all set to launch the fourth generation Dzire, a compact sedan that has sold 2.7 million units since its launch in 2008

However, the company is not going to upgrade the Tour, which is the Dzire offering in the fleet segment, to the fourth generation avatar.

The Tour will continue in its third generation, said Partha Banerjee, senior executive officer, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, during an interaction with The Telegraph during the media drive event of the new Dzire. While 65 per cent of the Dzire sales came from the passenger car variant, 35 per cent of the sales were in the fleet segment.

“We struggled to cater to the demand. Sometimes we had to produce more for the retail passenger sales, sometimes for the fleet sales,” said Banerjee.

When asked why the fleet segment Tour was not getting updated to the new generation, Banerjee said: “Many companies create different variants of the sae brand to cater to different segment needs. We created the fourth generation Dzire for retail customers and decided to continue with the third generation Tour for the fleet segment.”

While the sedan market has been dying, with the overall market share for sedans in the industry hovering at eight per cent, Maruti’s sedan share in the whole industry stands at ten per cent. This includes the Dzire (both passenger and fleet segment models) which is a compact sedan and the Ciaz.

“The Dzire market share is close to 61 per cent. And every second sedan sold in the market is from the Maruti stable. We have an overall 50 per cent market share in the sedan segment,” said Banerjee.

Holding out the hope that the new fourth generation Dzire will again revive the sedan market, Banerjee said: “One will have to offer the right product to the right customer at the right price point. Being a market leader one has to be at every segment of the market and look at it from a long term perspective.” the price of Dzire will be announced on November 11 at the launch function.

While both the hatch and the sedan segments are on a downslide, Banerjee pointed out that the new Swift launched before the festive season has sold 22,000 units in October and the Wagon R, another compact car from Maruti, has sold 21,000 units.

While arguing about the revival of the compact car, Banerjee said: “Do we expect a two-heeler customer to upgrade to a Grand Vitara? People have aspirations but cannot afford the price which is going beyond his reach with every price rise happening because of regulations and all other factors.”

The industry is bang on target forecast of four to five per cvent growth. Maruti is on a growth path of 4.1 per cent, said Banerjee.

“If one year we have a low single-digit growth we should not be perturbed. If we look at the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for say 10 years, we will see a growth of four to five per cent only,” said the officer.

Speaking about marriage season fostering growth in the auto sector, Banerjee said: “It is the rural market that is forging growth.

“Rural sales this October has been 31 per cent. Monsoons have been good, there has been a good harvest. This will fuel sales.”