Abhishek Nigam tookon the petrol Ritz, while Muntaser Mirkar locks horns with the DDiS Ritz in this twin test!

Every car has a point - a reason behind its existence. Auto manufacturers don't pay millions for market research - both to the surveyees and the surveyors for nothing. They put in a detailed report on whether their proposed product will appeal to the target customer and at what name and what price point, what shape and in what colours. Placing a product and identifying with that customer base is what brings perspective to us automotive journalists. And then came along the Ritz.

Initially, when the Ritz was still known as the Splash everyone thought it would fill a very narrow niche between the A-Star and the Swift, but then Maruti launched the car and declared its pricing - bang in the middle of Swift territory. Now this threw us out of perspective for a bit - after all here was a brand new car unknown to the rest of the world that was priced more-or-less like the Swift and didn't do anything better or different than it - it looked as queer as some people thought the Swift does and sports the same oil burner as well. The confusion didn't last long though because staring us straight in the face was a clipping of all of the models in Maruti's Indian product portfolio - the 800, Alto, Wagon R, Zen Estilo, A Star, etc.

Now Maruti is a different kind of manufacturer than most others you see in the country - they have no less than five small cars that they sell at prices extremely close to each other.

The Swift till now, was elusive to that influence - which is where the Ritz fits in. Fresher, built better and armed with a brand new petrol engine, the Ritz suddenly makes perfect sense now, though it didn't at first. The Swift has been the market leader for a long time as far as big hatchbacks are concerned and the Ritz has just been recruited to consolidate Maruti's onslaught out there. But will the cute lil’ Ritz cut it as well as the Swift did? Let's find out.