India’s leading car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki, is preparing to launch an all new car by August or September 2013. This will be yet another entrant into its highly successful and highest selling small car segment. This car will be a fusion between the Zen Estilo and the A-Star. The petrol version will be launched next year. It is expected that a diesel version too will be launched in due course of time, in 2014 or 2015. So this will be their first small hatchback with a diesel engine.
Maruti Suzuki seems to have recognized what went wrong with the A-Star and the Zen Estilo. The A-Star has a serious space shortage on the interior as well as a miserly boot. But it looks good and drives well. The Zen Estilo, does not look very good and is not that fun to drive, but has lot of space on the inside and a very practical boot. Combining both these qualities, the new car should be pretty good looking, very fun to drive, with the space and practicality of a bigger car. This will be the perfect combination for a small car.
This new car will cost around Rs. 3.2 lakh to 4.5 lakh, which is below the Ritz and the Swift but slightly more than the cars it will be based on. The most important news is that it will be launched with a diesel engine after a year or so of its launch. Suzuki is developing a 800cc two-cylinder diesel engine at the moment and it is quite possible that this will be the first Maruti car to be launched with this engine. So this is good news for Indian car buyers as this new car will be a very value for money small car, which will be spacious, practical and very fuel efficient with a new diesel engine.
Source – Economic Times
