This hatchback stands tall amid SUV rush to emerge as India's best-selling car

Sport Utility Vehicles, or SUVs, may be the flavour of the season and commands more than 50 per cent of the market share in the Indian auto industry. However, small cars are not done yet. And it shows in sales numbers for the last financial year. Between April last year and March this year, it was the small cars that led the list of best-selling cars in the country. Expectedly, they were all from the Maruti Suzuki stable, led by the boxy-looking hatchback WagonR. The car found more the two lakh customers in India during the last 12 months.

Overall, among the top 10 best-selling cars during this period included seven from Maruti, four of them being small cars. There are four SUVs also on the list, two of them being from Tata Motors. The first four names on the list are all small cars. After WagonR, the best-selling models in India in the last 12 months have been Maruti Alto, Maruti Baleno and Maruti Swift respectively. Maruti sold 2.12 lakh units of the WagonR, with a growth of more than 12 per cent compared to the previous financial year. WagonR's sales is more than what some of the other carmaker's overall figures in the entire year.

The WagonR has been one of the most popular models from the Maruti stable since it made its debut in India back in 1999. Along with the Alto, WagonR is among the oldest surviving models in the market spanning over two decades. One of the key reasons behind its success is a quicker delivery timeline at a time when most of the carmakers are struggling with pending orders due to supply issues. Among other factors are the availability of Maruti's spare parts, its service network and ownership cost.

Maruti Suzuki WagonR, which was launched in its latest avatar back in February last year, has been leading the sales charts consistently over the last few months. Offered with petrol and CNG versions, the hatchback comes at a starting price of ₹5.54 lakh (ex-showroom) and goes up to ₹7.30 (ex-showroom) for the top-end variant. The CNG version of the WagonR is available at a starting price of ₹6.44 lakh (ex-showroom).

The new Maruti WagonR comes powered with a 1.0-litre K-series Dual Jet, Dual VVT engine and 1.2-litre engine as well. It also offers company-fitted S-CNG version too with the 1.0-litre engine.

Check out Upcoming Cars in India 2024, Best SUVs in India.