Maruti Suzuki recently stopped production of the Zen Estilo since it wasn’t performing well and same goes with the A-Star. Both these products don’t appeal to buyers and hence it is the Wagon R which rakes in the numbers. We had reported about Maruti’s plans to replace the Zen Estilo and A-Star with a completely new hatchback codenamed YL7 earlier. The YL7 will be launched as the Maruti Celerio all across the globe. Currently the Alto, Wagon R, Swift and Swift DZire are the best-sellers from the company’s stable and it is obvious that Maruti wants another winner in the Celerio. The Celerio was recently spotted without any camouflage during a photoshoot.
Since the new Celerio is a replacement for the Estilo and A-Star, it would still be compact in size but expect Maruti Suzuki to offer good interior room. Equipment levels would be similar to the Wagon R and Maruti would provide the three usual variants that it always does – LXi, VXi and ZXi. The Celerio will also get a diesel engine later this year and those variants would most probably be LDi, VDi and ZDi. Going by the company’s history, it is sure that none of the safety features like ABS and airbags would be standard on the base and middle variants (optional on the mid variants).
Maruti Suzuki will plant the same 1.0-litre K10 petrol engine, that does duty on the Alto K10, A-Star, Wagon R and the now-discontinued Estilo, under the Celerio’s hood. The engine cranks out 67 BHP of power and 90 Nm of torque which is almost similar to the Chevrolet Spark. A diesel version of the Celerio will also be launched and it will be powered by an 800cc, 2-cylinder engine but the exact specifications are unknown as of know. Expect Maruti to fit really puny tyres on the Celerio to improve fuel efficiency so if you are feeling a bit enthusiastic and want to have some fun then be sure to upgrade to better rubber.
The Maruti Suzuki Celerio will be priced a notch above the Wagon R. It will compete with hatchbacks like the Honda Brio, Hyundai Grand i10, Nissan Micra, Chevrolet Beat and Ford Figo. Looking at the pictures, we can make out that the Celerio looks very good and if priced properly (which Maruti always does) this is surely going to scare its rivals. The on-road price for Mumbai can be in the range of Rs. 4.30 – 5.70 lakhs for the petrol variants. Maruti will launch the Celerio at the 2014 Auto Expo in February and deliveries are expected to start soon after the launch.
Pictures Source – Motoroids
