Indian automaker Maruti Suzuki will be selling the Baleno premium hatchback through NEXA dealerships only and it won’t be available in regular showrooms.
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After launching the S-Cross a couple of months back, Maruti Suzuki is now gearing up to launch its premium hatchback, the Baleno in India. The Baleno will be positioned above the Swift and it’ll be sold via the company’s NEXA dealerships only. A teaser picture of the car has been released on the dealer’s website. The company will be launching the vehicle officially on 26th October which is less than a month away.
The earlier Baleno which was sold before the SX4 in India was a complete enthusiasts’ car. The new car is all set to revive the legacy. On the looks front, the Baleno looks like a bigger Swift but there are a lot of differences too. The vehicle gets an all-black dashboard and the design has been kept very minimalistic and straight-forward. The car is built on an all-new platform which is quite light weight and contributes to increased fuel efficiency, handling and stability apart from rigidity.
The Maruti Baleno will be offered in both petrol and diesel guises. The petrol engine will be the same 1.2-litre K-Series unit but it will be tuned to generate more horses as compared to the Swift. The diesel engine will also be the same 1.3-litre MultiJet unit that also powers the S-Cross. The oil-burner will be offered with the SHVS tech that was recently introduced on the Ciaz. The SHVS tech improves fuel efficiency by a margin. The engines will be mated to a 5-speed manual transmission while there is a possibility of an automatic gearbox being offered with the petrol engine.
The S-Cross comes with a driver-side airbag in the base variant while all other variants get dual front airbags. We think Maruti will provide the same set-up on the Baleno too, with ABS and EBD being offered on top variants. There is also a radar braking system on offer but it is unclear whether that’s only for export models or for the domestic market too. The Baleno will fight it out with the Hyundai Elite i20, Honda Jazz, Fiat Punto Evo and Volkswagen Polo and will have a starting price a notch above Rs. 5 lakhs (ex-showroom).
