[Enigmatic]

Oh my God, that's hideous..

Why would anyone(specially the youth they are targeting) want to be seen in this, and also pay 15k over and above the cost of a regular A-star, beats me.

[k2max6]

I wont take it at a discount of 15k let alone paying for it.
Awful.

[Omtoatom]

It is safe to say that Maruti has bordered on the excessive here and the result is an awful looking contraption with no aesthetic balance or harmony whatsoever. If you must absolutely do it, find a tasteful way to do so. Not a lesson in random graffiti which is what this resembles.

My insides revolt at the thought of red ORVMs and spoiler against a white body. What was Maruti thinking??

Besides a very uninspiring and unoriginal name: Aktiv sounds loosely "inspired" by the Linea/Punto trims.

[HammerHead]

Originally Posted by model-t

Red color OVRM's to go with a white color base paint.

Originally Posted by Omtoatom

My insides revolt at the thought of red ORVMs and spoiler against a white body. What was Maruti thinking??

Maruti was thinking Abarth
Check this out. Except excessive RED on the bumper, it looks OK to me.
IMO Mesh grill, Glossy Black Roof & Good Looking Alloys and this one is set.

Anyways hardly any one bothered about A-Star in its original look, atleast now people will notice it

Note: Pic from IAB

[sierrakamat]

The graphics on the door seems to be very similar to those on the sumo/grande.
I wonder who designs such things and why the companies use such doodles on their new cars to make them ''limited editions''.

[romeomidhun]

These gimmicks won't help A-Star. (Same is the case for Ritz.) All others except the ones at Maruti know it. That chinese version is also another waste of time.

For making A-Star a desirable car, its length has to be increased (the rear legroom and boot space have to get its benefit) while keeping the height and width same as those of current version. Also, need to give a more mature look to its front end by a well designed headlamp and a characterful grill, redesign the high-rising waist-line, and a 'well-built-in' spoiler. In the inside, the high-mounted dash board has to be changed.

My wishlist for the new A-Star:

1. Same platform as that of current A-Star
2. 1 / 1.2 L K-series engine
3. Width: 1600mm (same as that of current one)
4. Length: 3700mm
5. Height: 1490mm (same as that of current one)
6. A well-designed dashboard replacing the current high-mounted one.
7. Price in the 3.5 - 4.5L range
8. And the name? ZEN, it should be!

[aniketi]

MARUTI should do lot of changes along with the facelift. They should increase the length of the car and should make boot more usable. Boot should be a least 225 Liters. The new facelift looks cool and will surely attract customers but if they don't do other changes, it will again repeat the same story only.

[arjab]

Painted fog lamp covers without foglamps and they name it a special edition.
OEM claims they have put in Rs 14,000 worth of extra goodies.

I asked a bean-counter friend of mine who is working with one of the auto biggies and he says that, if one totals the cost of decals/logo's, scuff plates, upholstery upgrade, keyless entry, dabs of paint here and there and the body decals , the cost to OEM (OEM will never pay what you and i the "mango-people" pay) should be around 5-6.5k max.

Actually i feel Maruti missed an opportunity here. Maruti could have done minimal decal work and additionally they could have put in some tasty looking alloys, upsized those weedy tyres, thrown in a set of nice foglights and upgraded the music system to a more tub-thumping one.
Then it would have been a good special edition.

[sunny310c]

So Maruti takes it's customers to be fools to fall for this gimmick. Most people buying the A Star are looking for a value for money car and Maruti expects customers to be will to pay extra for some cheap decals. Just what were they thinking when they came up with this idea. Clearly, they haven't learnt from past mistakes.

[Prodigyy]

15K extra for that hideous looking stuff. At least the looks of Swift Limited Edition & Sx4 Celebration Edition were okay to go with, but this one simply looks outrageous and whacky mod job. This one should probably head straight to that thread on its OEM looks itself :P

I wonder who was the chap who came up with this bright & shining idea in MSIL, specially considering the segment A-star is in, where people change decisions on every 5K. Pretty sure Maruti dealers would end up offering varying amounts of hefty discounts on this one too.

Originally Posted by model-t

SX-4 ( The last one was on till last month with a 1 lac discount)

Just a correction, the discount was 50K, other than that there was just exchange bonus which was present on the standard VDi & ZDi models too.

[amitayu]

"A-Star is one of the most vibrant brands in our product portfolio."

really??? How can they even say it in the media? they think buyers are fools who do not know anything about the products??

b.t.w. the facelifted A star looks so much like a Hyundia I10...

in anycase, nothing can help the A star out unless they increase rear seat space and boot space....all those who buy hatchbacks as a family car avoid A Star precisely for these factors. In these times of fall in care sales, maruti cannot really expect the peppy youth club buying cars for just 2 users to bailout their product!!

[rxpaul]

Horrible change, a sticker job. What they could have done is to a) increase the glass area of the rear windows by adding a quarter glass and b) reduce the front seat headrests type to the ones on the Maruti 800. The car would 'feel' more spacious then.

[GTO]

Point to note is, as hideous as such editions look in pictures, they look even worse in person! Real world conditions aren't as ideal as photo studios.

I can't imagine someone not feeling embarrassed by driving a white car with red ORVMs, foglamp covers and stickers.

[romeomidhun]

Source: http://indianautosblog.com/2012/12/n...-a-sedan-56989

and: http://suzukifan.com/2012/03/04/suzu...n-current-car/

The next generation Alto (A-Star in India) will be based on the Regina concept shown by Suzuki. That may be the reason Maruti not doing any modification to the A-Star to make it more appealing, IMO.

And that Regina may have a sedan version as well!

[vigneshA]

To top it off goes the FM Ad for A-Star - probbably the worst car ad i have ever heard. The guy asks if you have test driven the new sporty A-start and then he pants for breatha and says he s excited just talking about it ....