For A murkily defined area, it is getting awfully crowded in the “premium compact car” segment. Hyundai has its i20, Maruti has launched the Ritz (or Splash, if you live in Europe), Honda will bring its Jazz in a few days, followed by Fiat’s Grande Punto and Volkswagen’ Polo, with Chevrolet also planning to get on board before the year end. Many would like to believe that the Jazz is the benchmark by which these technology-loaded sedans in little cars shells are judged, but just when you thought there could finally be a little clarity, Maruti has added a clever new twist with its seventh hatchback.

Premium hatchbacks, as they have chosen to call themselves, justify their exorbitant price on a small car by suggesting that since they’ve packed it full of sedan like gadgets and technology and all those airbags, the final product is aimed at the status seeker and the traditional sedan buyer. The message this has sent out to most traditional or prospective hatchback buyers is that this segment is out of their league.

But Maruti has refused to buy this and therefore we have the Ritz. With the engine and technology of the i20, far from alienating the price sensitive buyer, the car is destined to introduce sedan-like technology to a whole new section of consumers given that it is priced like the Swift and not the i20. Therein Maruti have secured for itself a winning strategy that its Korean and Japanese competitors will have to compete with if they want to enjoy similar sales volumes (which they always do).

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