Baleno-based Maruti Fronx is the second premium SUV from the Nexa channel, after the Grand Vitara, to achieve 200,000-unit wholesales in the domestic market. Having clocked 100,000 sales in just 10 months after launch in April 2023, the next 100,000 Fronx compact SUVs have been sold in a scant seven months. And, as in FY2024, it remains ahead of the Grand Vitara in the first five months of FY2025.
19 Sep 2024 | 10835 Views | By Ajit Dalvi
The Maruti Fronx has driven past the 200,000-unit wholesales milestone in the Indian passenger vehicle and SUV market. The Baleno-based compact SUV, sold from the company’s premium Nexa model channel, had clocked 100,000 sales in just 10 months, 150,000 units in 14 monthsand now the 200,000 sales landmark ...
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The Maruti Fronx has driven past the 200,000-unit wholesales milestone in the Indian passenger vehicle and SUV market. The Baleno-based compact SUV, sold from the company’s premium Nexa model channel, had clocked 100,000 sales in just 10 months, 150,000 units in 14 months and now the 200,000 sales landmark has come in mid-September 2024, 17 months after launch on April 24, 2023.
As per SIAM’s wholesales data numbers, the Maruti Fronx had sold a total of 134,735 units in FY2024, its first full year of sales when it averaged monthly dispatches of 11,228 units.
In the first 5 months of FY2025, the Fronx has sold 59,967 units (up 15% YoY), which translates into monthly dispatches of 11,993 units or nearly 400 units a day. The 200,000 milestone would have been achieved in the first fortnight of September.
In the current fiscal, between April and August 2024, the popular SUV has sold another 59,967 units (up 15% YoY) which translates into monthly dispatches of 11,993 units or nearly 400 units a day. This gives the Fronx fifth rank amongst the Top 20 utility vehicles in the first five months of FY2025.
Considering that at the end of August 2024, cumulative sales of the Fronx, at 194,702 units, were 5,298 units short of the 200,000-unit mark, this gap would have been bridged in the first fortnight of September 2024. With this newest milestone, the Maruti Fronx has become Nexa’s fastest SUV to the 200,000 mark, achieving it in five fewer months than the Maruti Grand Vitara, which took 22 months to the same milestone.
Helping power Nexa sales, second best-selling premium SUV
The Maruti Fronx is among the key growth drivers of Maruti Suzuki’s market performance, particularly in the utility vehicle segment where the company is the market leader with a 25.55% share in the first five months of FY2025. Of its seven UVs, four products have seen a YoY sales decline. The three UVs in positive territory are the Brezza compact SUV, which remains Maruti Suzuki’s best-selling UV with 78,337 units (up 17%), followed by the Ertiga MPV (77,620 units, up 52%), and the Fronx (59,967 units, up 15%). Dispatches for the Grand Vitara midsize SUV at 45,484 units are down 5% as are for the XL6 (15,736 units, down 11%). Jimny wholesales are down sharply by 59% YoY to 4,033 units and the rebadged Invicto premium MPV too is down – by 39% YoY – to 939 units.
In FY2024, with 134,735 units, the Fronx was the second highest-selling Nexa model in Maruti Suzuki’s premium Nexa channel after its donor model, the Baleno (195,607 units), and the best-selling Nexa SUV, with the Grand Vitara midsize SUV selling 121,169 units (up 136%).
Demand continues to be robust in the current fiscal. Notably, the Fronx’s sterling sales performance should be viewed in the contest of the highly competitive compact SUV market that it is part of. This segment includes popular models like the Tata Nexon, Tata Punch, Maruti Brezza, Hyundai Venue and Exter, Mahindra 3XO, Kia Sonet as well as the recently launched Toyota Taisor, which has clocked 11,218 unit sales in four months. The Toyota Taisor is the rebadged Fronx produced by Maruti Suzuki for Toyota Kirloskar Motor.
Of the Maruti Nexa channel’s total sales of 699,252 units in April-August 2024, the Fronx (59,967 units) accounts for an 8.57% share, just after the Baleno (63,580 units, 9% share of Nexa sales) and ahead of the Grand Vitara (45,484 units, 6.50% share of Nexa sales).
Stylish and practical coupé-crossover with petrol and CNG power
The good-looking Fronx coupe-crossover has a strong road presence, what with it being based on the snazzy Baleno hatchback and sporting frontal design elements like the upright nose and split headlamp that look similar to the Grand Vitara midsize SUV.
While the 17-inch multi-spoke alloys are unique to Fronx, Baleno-like features include the rising waistline with a prominent hunch over the rear wheels, and the sloping roofline. Dimension-wise too, the Fronx is Baleno-like: length at 3995mm, height at 1550mm and width at 1765mm.
The Maruti Fronx is powered by an efficient 1.2 petrol which produces 90hp and 113 Nm torque, and a 1.0 turbo-petrol. The Boosterjet turbo-petrol engine, which develops 100hp and 147Nm, is paired to either a five-speed manual or a six-speed torque converter automatic.
Three months after the launch of the petrol-engined Fronx, Maruti Suzuki launched the CNG avatar of the Fronx, which has given a boost to sales. The Fronx CNG, with 77.5hp and 98.5 Nm, is claimed to deliver fuel efficiency of 28.51 km/kg.
The Fronx is sold in five trims – Sigma, Delta, Delta+, Zeta and Alpha – and 14 variants with nine manual and four auto transmission options. Pricing starts at Rs 894,000 (on-road Delhi) for the base Sigma variant and goes upwards to the top-end Alpha Turbo AT variant, which costs Rs 15.67 lakh (on-road Delhi).
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