Our friends at Team-BHP have broken a big scoop about Maruti Suzuki’s upcoming sedan. The automaker will launch the SX4 replacement (codenamed YL1) in the latter half of 2014 which is based on the Ertiga platform (the Ertiga itself is based on a modified Swift platform). The Maruti YL1 takes heavy design cues from the Suzuki AuthenticS Concept (last two pictures in this post) which broke cover at the 2013 Shanghai Motor Show in April. However the styling of the SX4 replacement is simpler but packaging is very neat. The front grille features heavy dose of chrome and the headlights are inspired from the Mercedes-Benz E-Class.
The upcoming Maruti SX4 replacement is expected to boast of class leading interior room and is the same size as the Volkswagen Vento. The cabin is similar to other Maruti cars (similar dashboard and switches) but resembles the DZire to a large extent with the top portion of the dashboard finished in black and the lower portion (including doors and carpets) finished in beige. The floor hump at the rear is small which means even the fifth passenger will have reasonable space.
Maruti Suzuki wants to offer its flagship sedan with loads of features (the Kizashi is no longer on sale in India so the YL1 will become the flagship Maruti sedan in India). The vehicle will feature push button start, keyless entry, puddle lamps, twin AC vents at the rear, leather seats, etc. The YL1 gets an instrument cluster with glowing white rings and white display for the multi-information display.
The Maruti Suzuki YL1 will use the same engines which do duty on the Ertiga, a 1.3-litre Multijet diesel and a 1.4-litre K14M petrol producing 89 BHP/200 Nm and 94 BHP/130 Nm respectively. These engines will be mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox and the petrol engine might get mated to an automatic transmission at a later stage. The SX4 replacement gets smaller 185/60/15 tyres bolted on hyper silver coloured alloy wheels in the Z variants. Many of the parts come from the Ertiga and thus the steering wheel, audio controls and rear centre AC vents are a straight lift from the MPV. The vehicle also gets electric folding rear view mirrors.
Suzuki is already testing the vehicle in Japan as we speak. Being a Maruti Suzuki car, pricing is expected to be competitive although we can’t really point on how the YL1 will be priced since the company might re-position the current SX4 a segment lower. However that seems unlikely as they wouldn’t want the SX4 overlapping the DZire. Thus the YL1 should be priced between Rs. 7-9 lakhs, competing against the Hyundai Verna, Honda City, Nissan Sunny, etc.
Source – Team-BHP
