Maruti Suzuki mid-size SUV, rival to Hyundai Creta, to be unveiled on July 20

Maruti Suzuki has confirmed a July 20 unveil date for its next product which would also be its biggest in terms of sheer vehicle dimensions. Looking at entering the mid-size SUV space which is currently dominated by Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos, Maruti Suzuki will take the covers off of its own product that has been developed jointly with Toyota and would be manufactured at the Toyota Kirloskar Motor plant in Karnataka.

HT Auto was the first to reveal an unveil timeline of third week of July for what could possibly be the Maruti model carrying the maximum weight of expectations. The company thus far has had no mid-size SUV despite the segment continuing to grow exponentially in the past several years. Speaking to HT Auto, Shashank Srivastava - Executive Director for Marketing and Sales at Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) - had elaborated on how there is still much space here for the taking. This segment is quite large, it is 18 per cent of the overall market," he had said. "In the entry-SUV segment, we have the Brezza which is a market leader (but) in the mid-SUV segment, we obviously need to strengthen ourselves. If we need to achieve our market share, we need to strengthen the our SUV portfolio."

The mid-size SUV space remains a hotly-contested field of play with existing and new models vying for attention. Toyota has already unveiled its own offering and had showcased the Urban Cruiser Hyryder earlier this month. This would be the first strong-hybrid mid-size SUV in India while the upcoming Maruti model would offer mild hybrid technology. Both models would get a 1.5-litre motor under the hood with hybrid technology and also boast of an AWD version.

Suzuki and Toyota have joined forces to tackle the SUV battlefield in India and both products would not just be competing against each other but against a long list of other rivals as well.