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An Esteem in need of some glory

NetScribes/Mahesh Shetty

It's a familiar sight - this trusty old shape of a mid-size passenger car as it comes out of the building across your street. You notice it's a new colour, some sophisticated shade of green, and it's got gleaming chrome on the grille. Hanging there, but still not impressive enough. That sums up the average reaction to Maruti Udyog's long serving mid-size car, the Esteem, as it struggles to make it to sexy.

It's been around so long, you don't even remember when you forgot about it. And that's a sad fate for any product, really. Launched in November 1994, this car wasn't even born with that name or on that date, technically. The Esteem is actually an evolution of Maruti's 1000, that classic lemon the company launched in 1990. The 1000 went down primarily because it was underpowered at a time when buyers were asking for more power. Maruti realised that 1000 wasn't taking it anywhere in the mid-size sweepstakes.

So, end 1994, four years after the 1000 debuted, the company plonked in a fat, 1.3 ltr, all-aluminum engine and called it the Esteem. Suddenly, this car was hip. On the rally circuits, everybody wanted an Esteem ride because it was easily the fastest, most 'driveable' car around. The Esteem was now a lot more fashionable on the social map than it ever was.

Those glory days didn't last too long, though, because by the next year - 1995 - Daewoo came into the country with its large, lazily proportioned mid-size, the Cielo. Now, although the Cielo had a bad start fighting rumours about very low mileage figures, it was pioneering in a different sort of way - it was the first car to give the buyer a choice in mid-size cars after the five-year-long Maruti monopoly on the segment. And Maruti felt the difference, because that set off a series of new mid-size cars slamming the market.

In mid-1996, Ford came to India with proven warhorse, the Escort, followed closely by General Motors with its Astra. In 1997 came the Honda City and the HM-Mitsubishi Lancer. Although the City and the Lancer are larger more expensive products, the Esteem did see a small shift of buyers to the big cars. Small, but it mattered at a time when the Esteem's entire base was shifting.

The final assault though was in 1999 - that blockbuster year when it rained new models like never before (and, since actually). That year saw the launch of the Telco Indica in the small car game, Fiat's Siena, Ford's Ikon and Hyundai's Accent. Plus the Hyundai Santro and the Daewoo Matiz (launched end-1998) that matured in 1999.

All of this contributed to some serious damage. January 1999, the Esteem's share of the premium segment was more than 40 per cent. January 2000, that number came down to 18 per cent and January 2001, it's down to 15 per cent. Calendar 1995, the car sold 20,500 units, 1996 it sold 25, 400, 1997 it sold 19,400, 1998 it sold 17,300, 1999 it sold 16,400 and 2000 it sold 12,200. That is certifiable decline.

The last significant new launch in the mid-size market was the HM-GM Opel Corsa (early 2000 launch), which, despite low volumes of 350-400 units a month, has only added to the Esteem's woes and is indicative of what could happen to the product in future.

The consensus now is that there are only so many feature upgrades you can do on a given car. The time they say has come for a really new product that can replace the Esteem. Buyers, dealers and industry observers say this product is in desperate need of a total upgrade if Maruti wants to maintain any serious presence in the lucrative lower mid-size market.

"The Esteem is still a strong product but the model ageing process is a whole lot faster today. The annual model change is here to stay, and by that benchmark the Esteem is way past its retirement age," says a large multi brand dealer in Bombay.

Product-wise, the last big thing to happen to the Esteem was in January 2000. This was when Maruti upgraded their entire range to MPFI (multipoint fuel injection) with 16-bit engine management. Two things happened. Power jumped from the embarrassing 65 bhp it had to a decent 85 bhp. And emission levels came down to get the car easily complying with tough Euro II norms. Power windows in front supplemented this along with a chrome plated front grille. All of which went on to extend the life of this old lady by a few more years.

"Agreed, they've upped power substantially, but as far as the outside goes, this is still a Maruti 1000 and that's a good 10 years old already," says a prospective buyer as he checks out an aggressive looking Ikon at a Ford dealership in Bombay.

The underlying message therefore is: do a decent retirement ceremony and bring in a substantial improvement - fast, before this car is unceremoniously booted out of the market like so many others that bit the dust.

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