Game Changer: Maruti Suzuki Super Carry

Maruti Suzuki is carving out a share of the LCV market in a quiet way with its Carry.

- Anirudh Raheja

Pictures fail to do justice to the Maruti Suzuki Super Carry. The 1.6-tonne LCV is bigger and attractive than the pictures are able to depict. Measuring 3,800 mm in length, 1,562mm in width, and 1,868 mm in height, the vehicle is comparable to Tata Ace and the Mahindra Jeeto in terms of its size. Available currently in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, the Super Carry is competing with the above mentioned vehicles, and others, in a market that clocked 3,43,975 units units in the JanuaryOctober 2015 period. It is claimed to be growing at 14 to 16 per cent in the current fiscal. Shifting to higher tonnage vehicles, the market that the Super Carry is in, continues to be largely owner-operator driven. Emphasis therefore is on appearance as much as it is on reliability, payload and efficiency. Tracing its origins to the first generation Suzuki Carry that was launched in 1961 as a Japanese ‘Kei’ truck, the Super Carry that has found its way to India is said to draw from the 11th generation model. Noticeably longer and wider than the first generation Carry, the LCV, in India, is reflecting not just on a quest of its manufacturer to carve out a pie in the growing LCV market in India, but also on a strategy to address the changing requirements of commercial vehicle buyers. Found in Indonesia, Philippines and many other markets, the Super Carry that is made in India, is exported to South Africa and Tanzania.