Maruti Suzuki India, on Friday launched its latest small car Ritz in both petrol and diesel variants, offered at an introductory price of Rs 3.90-4.99 lakh.

"Ritz is our parent Suzuki's fifth global model and it will be the first Bharat Stage-IV emission norms compliant Indian car. We have launched it at the beginning of the fiscal and we hope it will bring excitement in the market," Maruti Suzuki India Managing Director and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi said.

The small car has been developed on the existing hatch-back Swift's platform and common usage of the platform helped the company to offer Ritz at a lower price, he added.

"Also higher level of localisation helped us in reducing the cost. Ritz has 85 per cent of localisation in components," Nakanishi said.

Text: PTI

About the sales of the car, he said that the company has not fixed any target as "it is tough to project for future. We have capacity to meet all requirements."

Regarding its product portfolio, Nakanishi said: "We are constantly expanding our portfolio in the competitive compact car segment. India is a diverse market, no two customers think in the same way. We do not want to miss any opportunity in this segment."

The petrol version of Ritz would be available in three variants in the price range of Rs 3.90 lakh to Rs 4.80 lakh, while the diesel engine car would be available in two variants between Rs 4.65 lakh and Rs 4.99 lakh.  The Ritz promises a mileage of 17.7 kmpl.

Ritz is a tallboy hatchback, positioned in the premium A2 market segment. The Maruti Suzuki Ritz, adopts a contemporary European design and is positioned at the growing premium-end of the compact car market.

Ritz will be the first passenger car in India to be compliant with the BS-IV emission norms, in petrol as well as diesel variants. This is many months ahead of the BS-IV norms being applicable in India, reinforcing Maruti Suzuki's leadership position.

With Ritz, MSIL aims to consolidate its leadership in the highly competitive compact car segment. The company commands the largest market share of 58 per cent in the A2 segment.

Being a car meant for the family, the Ritz has received special attention in the area of seating comfort. The rear seat has been designed for comfortable seating of 3 passengers.

The suspension of the vehicle with a ground clearance of 170 mm has been tuned for Indian road conditions.

Ritz is MSIL's eighth new model within 48 months following the launch of Swift, Zen Estilo, SX4, Swift Diesel, Grand Vitara, Swift Dzire and A-star. In the A-2 segment, Ritz will be the 7th offering for the customers by Maruti Suzuki.

The Ritz combines modern European design, the sportiness of the Swift, the latest in engine technology and Suzuki's globally acclaimed expertise in compact cars. The Ritz further reiterates Maruti Suzuki's commitment to bring global car models for its customers in India.

The Ritz will be available with two different engine options: a brand new K-series 1.2 litre, four-cylinder, 85PS Petrol engine and the super-successful 1.3 litre, 16-valve DDiS, 75PS diesel engine.

The K12M engine is being manufactured in Maruti Suzuki's brand new state-of the-art engine manufacturing facility inside its Gurgaon plant, which was inaugurated last year with the launch of A-star's K10B engine.

The K12M engine has been specifically designed for Indian applications. Maruti Suzuki's engineers worked as part of Suzuki's Engine Design team for the design, calibration and testing of the engine in Japan and in India.

This is a step forward in enhancing the engine development capability. The engine promises to be a best in class fuel efficient, high performance, low emission, light weight, with lower NVH (Noise, Vibration & Harshness).