Maruti Victoris: the most complicated car Maruti has ever sold

What Maruti has actually built

The Victoris is 4,360 mm long on a 2,600 mm wheelbase, 1,795 mm wide and 1,655 mm tall. That wheelbase is the headline: a Hyundai Creta sits on 2,610 mm and a Kia Seltos on similar, so the Victoris is playing in that class rather than below it.

It sold 12,978 units in August 2026, twelfth in the country, in what is effectively its first full year. That is a strong start for a new nameplate.

The range covers three powertrains and two drivetrains, which is unusual for Maruti — the company built its reputation on simple, cheap, reliable cars, and this is none of those things in the way the Alto was.

Three powertrains, honestly compared

The K15C petrol makes 75.8 kW — 103.06 PS — at 6,000 rpm with 139 Nm at 4,300 rpm, through a five-speed manual or a six-speed automatic. It claims 21.18 km/l on the manual. It is smooth and it is not fast; 139 Nm arriving at 4,300 rpm means downshifting to overtake with the car loaded.

The CNG runs the same engine bi-fuel, dropping to 87.8 PS and 121.5 Nm in gas mode, for a claimed 27.02 km/kg. The cylinder is 55 litres water-equivalent.

The 1.5 M15D strong hybrid with an eCVT is the interesting one. This is a full hybrid that can move on electricity alone, not a mild-hybrid starter-generator with a badge. It is the smoothest way to drive this car and the cheapest to run — and it is where the money goes.

AllGrip all-wheel drive is offered on the ZXI+ automatic, claiming 19.07 km/l. At this price, genuine all-wheel drive is close to unique.

Twenty-one variants, and where to get off

LXI at ₹10,49,900 is the entry car and very few people should buy it. VXI at ₹11,84,900 is the first sensible rung.

ZXI at ₹13,77,300 is where we would stop for most buyers. Note the (O) variants alongside it — ZXI (O) is ₹7,100 more, which is small enough that if the equipment suits you, take it.

Above that the range forks. ZXI+ MT at ₹15,54,300 and the ADAS automatics at ₹17,49,300 climb steeply. The strong hybrids start at ₹16,42,900 for the VXI THS and run to ₹19,98,900.

That ₹19,98,900 figure deserves a pause. It is twenty lakh for a Maruti, and it is more than a well-equipped Creta or Seltos. The hybrid earns some of that back in fuel over years — but you should do that sum with your own annual kilometres, not accept it as a given.

Is the hybrid worth ₹4.2 lakh

ZXI petrol manual is ₹13,77,300. ZXI strong hybrid is ₹18,00,300. That is ₹4,23,000 between them.

Here is the arithmetic nobody does at the showroom. At roughly ₹100 a litre and 21 km/l, the petrol costs about ₹4.76 per kilometre. A strong hybrid in city use realistically returns somewhere near 27–28 km/l, so call it ₹3.60. That is ₹1.16 saved per kilometre.

₹4,23,000 divided by ₹1.16 is about 3.6 lakh kilometres. Even at 15,000 km a year, that is well past twenty years.

So buy the hybrid because it is smoother, quieter and nicer to drive in traffic — those are real and worth paying for. Do not buy it because it will pay for itself in fuel, because on these numbers it will not.

What we would tell a friend

Buy the ZXI MT at ₹13,77,300, or the ZXI (O) at ₹13,84,400 if its equipment suits you. That is the Victoris doing what most people need at a price that still makes sense against its rivals.

If you want the hybrid, want it for how it drives. It is genuinely the better car in traffic and the numbers on fuel will not repay the premium in any realistic ownership period.

And if you are being walked to the top of the range at twenty lakh, put a Creta and a Seltos on the same shortlist that afternoon. The Victoris is a good car. At that price it is no longer the obvious one.