The New Zen Estilo

It’s not a Steal. Oh!

So the new Zen, now known as the Zen Estilo is ‘All Systems Go’. At Rs 4.02 lac for the loaded VXi with ABS, Maruti has pulled one out of the hat once again. Like it had done with the Swift a year and half ago. The Swift went on to be a smashing success. Eighteen months later, it continues to show robust sales. No upgrades, no special editions – the car is selling on style.

Evidently, that is what Maruti-Suzuki aims to achieve with the Estilo. The similarities with the Swift’s strategy are, of course, deeper than just building a head-turning car. The Swift is essentially an old car in new clothes. The engine and chassis components are from the Esteem. And while we love the Esteem’s drive-train package, there is no escaping from the fact that in the end, it’s the customer who is being conned into buying a car that is, let’s just say, rather old, to be polite.

The Zen Estilo, meanwhile, is the Suzuki MR-Wagon. I am tempted to use ‘under the skin’. But I couldn’t be more wrong. Under the skin, the Estilo and the MR-Wagon are hugely different. While the MR-Wagon buzzed in Japan powered by a turbo-charged 660cc engine, the Estilo gets a heart implant off the Wagon-R. Daft names Suzuki has got for its cars – the Wagon-R, the MR-Wagon – but we’ll keep that for another day (perhaps a rainy one). So, for all practical purposes, the Estilo is the Wagon-R in different garb. Same platform, same engine, shared components, and – I am presuming – same instrument panel. Forgive me, but the difference is only skin deep.

Which is not surprising. Considering that the MR-Wagon was discontinued in Japan over a year ago. Suzuki did well to ship the dies that were dying a slow death in Hamamatsu, over to Gurgaon. Boink, Maruti-Suzuki has a new car to play around with. What have we here then. A Wagon-R that is cheaper and looks worse, if I may add a dash of personal prejudice to the picture.

The fact that something has finally succeeded in looking worse than the Wagon-R is not the only thing that hurts though. It’s the blatant abuse of the ‘Zen’ nameplate that moves me. In its heyday, the Zen stood for everything that was young, aggressive, fast and sporty. Its aluminum engine was smaller in capacity than most of the competition. But did it have character in good measure. The engine-gearbox-chassis combination came together in perfect harmony to teach Indians what a hot-hatch ‘could’ be. I liked the way it looked before the botched up ‘New Look’ job. I liked the way it went. And I liked the fact that it was like clay in a modder’s able hands. And that the engine was like clay in a tuner’s hands.

Now we have just another tall-boy that oozes practicality at the cost of looking like a camel on four wheels. In yellow. Small tyres, desperately flared wheel arches and a thoroughly uninspiring monoform design make it just another commuter. Just another car that will have lots of space (above the head, albeit), will return 14 kilometers to a litre and will handle like a camel on four wheels. In yellow. The Estilo is everything that the Zen was not. And then some. It has been positioned differently from the Zen. While the Zen was a premium hatch, the Estilo is a cheap run-of-the-mill hatchback which is positioned between the Alto and the Wagon-R. Below the Wagon-R mind you.

That makes Maruti-Suzuki’s decision to go with the ‘Zen’ name astounding. Sacrilegious, even. In effect, everyone who owned, liked, cherished and is attached to the Zen is going to end up forming a huge pool of potential customers who are antagonistic to the new Zen. That’s the enthusiast in me.

I also happen to be a wannabe MBA. It’s a magnificent culture clash, a fabulous conflict of identities. From a purely business point of view, cold, clinical decisions are based on positive Net Present Values and not what a few meaningless enthusiasts think. The Zen’s brand equity must have been too much for Maruti-Suzuki to give up. They’ve built it up over the last decade, and to just give it up would be nothing short of foolishness. Or would it? Honda did it successfully with the New City – then again, that was the ‘New’ City. I am not sure it will work with the new Wagon-R in new clothes.

Perhaps they should have just let the Zen rest in peace. In the Indian Hall of Automotive Fame. It had done its bit for the market. Lived its fifteen years of fame to the fullest. Why pick up a name that has to do with agile, lithe performance and jolly good looks and slap it on the back of a camel on four wheels. In yellow!

Picture courtesy - Business Standard Motoring