Last month, alongside the introduction of two CNG variants of the Ertiga, Maruti Suzuki said that over 61,000 units of the MPV have been sold since it was introduced, in the current avatar, in November last year. Now, with the official launch of the BSVI-compliant Ertiga (we reported it last month!), the carmaker is claiming that the total sales count for the current-gen model has surpassed 70,000.

Well, that’s a change of about 9,000 (give or take)! To bolster its newest claim, India’s largest carmaker says that the average monthly sale has risen to over 8,300 units (was over 8,000 earlier). Obviously, the increased figures have had an impact on the model’s growth trend. It is up to 63 per cent when compared to the same months in the previous year. What hasn’t changed is the fact that the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga is not on the bestselling MPV in its segment but also across other segments.

It isn’t a secret anymore that Maruti Suzuki will stop selling diesel-fed models from April 1, 2020. What that means is that if you don’t want the Ertiga with the 1.5-litre petrol engine, which also has a mild-hybrid tech, you can have it with the 1.5-litre diesel mill. While the former is good for 103hp/138Nm (91hp/122Nm on CNG) and is available both a 5-speed MT and a 4-speed AT, the latter has 94hp/225Nm and can only be had with a 6-speed MT. As far as the 1.3-litre diesel mill is concerned, that has been axed from Ertiga’s portfolio.

So, there you have it. The Ertiga is not only breaking records but also raising the game for others to catch up. Speaking of which, Maruti’s MPV locks horns with the likes of the Renault Lodgy and the Mahindra TUV300 Plus.