After a prolonged production run of 35 years, the Maruti Omni is on the verge of getting officially retired in India.
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The primary reason for the discontinuation of Maruti Omni is the Bharat New Vehicles Safety Assessment Program (BNVSAP) that is coming into effect from July 2019. Furthermore India is officially adapting Bharat-VI emission standards, which are going to be stricter than the Euro VI. With these reforms, it will require quite a heavy investment from the company to comply the Omni with the required standards.
Related: India to Enforce BS-VI Emission Standards by 2020
The Indian regulatory authorities have made it mandatory to include a driver-side airbag, ABS, speed warning alert, front seatbelt reminder, and rear parking sensors as standard fitments on all cars from 1st July, 2019. By 1st October, 2019, all models will be required to comply with stringent BNVSAP crash test norms, and by 1st April, 2020, India will enforce the BS-VI emission standards.
Powered by a 796cc engine producing 34 hp and 59 Nm, the Omni was a hot selling product for Maruti with an average monthly sales of over 7,000 units. First introduced in 1984, Maruti has reportedly sold nearly 16 million units of Omni as of October 2018. The Maruti Omni is priced between INR 2.82 lac for the base variant to up to INR 3.03 lac for the most expensive 8-seat version.
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Omni’s successor will be the Suzuki Eeco, which is already on sale in India. Bearing a slightly higher price tag, the Maruti Eeco is priced from INR 3.65 lac to INR 4.79 lac and is powered by a more powerful 1.2 liter, 4 cylinder engine producing 73 hp of power and 101 Nm torque.
A computer animation professional with over 23 years of industry experience having served in leading organizations, TV channels & production facilities in Pakistan. An avid car enthusiast and petrolhead with an affection to deliver quality content to help shape opinions. Formerly written for PakWheels as well as major publications including Dawn. Founder of CarSpiritPK.com
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