Maruti Suzuki announces standardization of six airbags in Ertiga & Baleno, ex-showroom prices to rise
The standardization will result in a 1.4per cent increase in the ex-showroom price of the Ertiga and a 0.5% hike for the Baleno, effective from July 16.
Recently, Maruti Suzuki India reported a 6 per cent year-on-year decline in total sales to 1,67,993 units in June.
The move by the country's largest carmaker comes as it announced that it will equip all its passenger vehicles with six airbags by the end of this year. The company offers 10 models with six airbags as a standard feature across variants. These models are Alto K10, Celerio, WagonR, Eeco, Swift, Dzire, Brezza, Grand Vitara, Jimny and Invicto.
"Within this year, Maruti Suzuki will be having all models across all variants equipped with six airbags as standard," said
Hisashi Takeuchi
, managing director of
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.
(MSIL), the Indian subsidiary of Japan's Suzuki Motor Corporation.
Demand for safety features
Safety features like six airbags, electronic stability control (ESC), anti-lock braking systems (ABS) with electronic brake-force distribution (EBD), and ISOFIX child seat mounts--all considered luxuries till recently--are rapidly becoming standard.
Increasingly stricter norms in recent years—the latest government mandate requires six airbags in passenger vehicles by October 2025—is accelerating the trend. But the main driver is demand.
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