Mileage issue: K J Alphons drags Maruti Suzuki to the consumer forum
Former Union Minister K J Alphons, who is also a former IAS officer, approached the consumer forum against Maruti cars, complaining about their low mileage. On October 3, Alphons appeared before the Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, who is also the Chief Commissioner, Central Consumer Protection Authority, with a “Class Action Petition” seeking action against Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. for allegedly making false and exaggerated claims with regard to the mileage of his wife’s Maruti Grand Vitara Smart Hybrid Delta car.
In her petition, which Alphons argued before the authority, Sheela Alphons has alleged that while she was promised that the car would give a mileage of 20.58 kms per litre of petrol, in actuality, the car was giving an average mileage of only 12.6 kms per litre of petrol. Arguing before the consumer forum, the former Minister said this fake promise of Maruti Suzuki is nothing but cheating of the consumer by claiming 20.5 kilometres per liter and actually getting only 12.6 kilometres.
“She bought the above model only because of the high mileage promised. Otherwise, she would not have bought the above vehicle. The counter-petitioner (Maruti) promised a ‘smart hybrid’, which in common parlance would mean that it was supposed to be even better than a normal hybrid. It is learnt that the hybrid is supposed to give a mileage of 27 kms per litre,” her complaint reads.
“The main factor for the purchase of the above model was the mileage promised. The promise is a contract between the seller and the buyer…. Thousands of consumers believed the counter-petitioner and bought the above vehicle based on their promise. They were all cheated. Potential customers also will be cheated by the unfounded claims,” she has further said.
Asserting that once she understood that she had been cheated, she requested Maruti to refund the amount paid for the vehicle, along with the interest for the above amount from the date on which the money was remitted for the car. Mrs Alphonse said in the petition that when she persisted, the car company “sent someone to pick up the vehicle to test the mileage,” but her driver was not allowed to be in the vehicle. “After a few hours, the petitioner got a screenshot indicating that when the counter-petitioner’s personnel drove the vehicle, they got a mileage of 17 kms per litre!” she further says.
After this incident, she wrote to R C Bhargava, Chairman of Maruti, and other senior officers of the company, but received no favourable response. The petition also pointed out that as of September 15, the mileage has come down further to just 10.3 km per litre. “Hybrid variants of the Grand Vitara were a major driver of this success, with a notable 43% year-on-year growth in sales for FY 24-25… Lakhs of people in India bought the Grand Vitara smart hybrid on the promise by the dominant player, the counter-petitioner, that it would give a mileage of 20.58 kms per litre.
The most important factor for the purchase of a passenger car is the mileage, as most buyers are from the middle class. There are plenty of similar products in the Indian market, and all the buyers in this segment would have opted for the Grand Vitara mainly for its mileage. The promise of mileage is a contract. Since lakhs of customers have been cheated, this is a Class Action Petition,” said the petition detailing how Maruti Suzuki fooled the customers by fake promises.
The petition further says that Maruti “has exploited the goodwill it has enjoyed in the market by making false promises which have led lakhs of people to believe their promise of mileage and buy the vehicle” and that “if the counter petitioner can get away cheating, everybody else will”. Alphons has sought a refund of the amount paid by his wife, along with interest, as well as a “public statement” by Maruti India that their claim was misleading and that they would not make any similar claims in the future. “We feel cheated, and that is why we had to file this petition. Since lakhs of others have bought this car, I have turned it into a Class Action Petition. Let us see what the authority does now,” said Alphons.
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