[HillMan]

Originally Posted by ahmad.007

Nice, I think they are clearing the stock, so this should be discontinued.

Nah! All Maruti cars except Swift and Desire have discounts. Happening with all manufacturers. Only their popular fast moving cars are spared, rest are on discounts. Good time to buy and exchange.

[puchoo]

I dont think this is going to get people necessarily to shift and buy the Wagon R but at the same time anyone who was planning for it or had it as a shortlisted option would atleast be happy to know that they will get a facelifted version with some new stuff.

[ahmad.007]

What if this Stingray is an edition? Because the old wagonR is unlikely to be discontinued, it does not makes sense to have different variants but only a single top variant with all the bells and whistles, ala allow, projector, etc. Hence it could just sit a notch higher than the current WagonR top model.

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by ahmad.007

Because the old wagonR is unlikely to be discontinued

ACI reports,

New Maruti WagonR Stingray to slot above the current WagonR; launch expected in the coming months.

And this is what most likely will happen. Stingray is being launched in order to draw back attention to the brand with a price tag of 30 - 40K more than the current WagonR.

Cheers!

[audioholic]

Wont that send it ramming into the Ritz territory? Leave alone A-Star. Except for people who find the rear annoying, obvious choice will be the Ritz. When we brought the WagonR, the base ritz was a couple of thousands away. So with this price increase, I dont think people will look at the Stingray. Moreover, I feel it is like the Estilo-ification of the Zen that is happening here. WagonR is now the subscript and Stingray is the new name.

[blackasta]

The WagonR stingray looks straight out of the movie - 'The Fast and the Furious - Tokyo Drift'! Blinged up Kei car with a lot of goodies. As @ahmad.007 suggested earlier in this thread, I believe this would be a single variant sitting on top of the other WagonR variants.

P.S - Maruti better do justice to that 'stingray' moniker - halfway 'round the world, there's a certain other stingray waiting to be launched..

http://www.chevrolet.com/new-2014-corvette/#!/gallery

[MHG]

While it looks better than the current WagonR, it still looks incredibly stupid, like a square box on wheels. While the Japs have the Kei Car tax bracket to shove these oddly proportioned cars into, in India the minimum tax dimensions are a sub 10-lac price, 1.5L diesel engine (or 1.2L petrol engine) and a sub-4m length bumper to bumper. Why don't auto manufacturers utilize this allowance fully while making a B1 segment car ?

[ahmad.007]

Originally Posted by MHG

While it looks better than the current WagonR, it still looks incredibly stupid, like a square box on wheels. While the Japs have the Kei Car tax bracket to shove these oddly proportioned cars into, in India the minimum tax dimensions are a sub 10-lac price, 1.5L diesel engine (or 1.2L petrol engine) and a sub-4m length bumper to bumper. Why don't auto manufacturers utilize this allowance fully while making a B1 segment car ?

Ok, auto manufacturers do utilize these allowance fully to make a car. Ex-Maruti Swift Dzire, Honda Amaze, Ford Ecosport, but wait, they do not belong to this segment, why do people forget that stretching a car to 4 meters will be costlier than a car of 3.2 meters, it is not only about tax benefits, its about practicality, city cars need to be small on the outside, large on inside, that is what WagonR is about. And sometimes, people do need small cars, that are lighter amd more fuel efficient than the "just sub-4 meter" cars.

[carzone]

Originally Posted by ahmad.007

What if this Stingray is an edition? Because the old wagonR is unlikely to be discontinued, it does not makes sense to have different variants but only a single top variant with all the bells and whistles, ala allow, projector, etc. Hence it could just sit a notch higher than the current WagonR top model.

That is what I was exactly thinking today morning. Came here and see you put it up. Conflicting things here made me think that. Some say the previous one won't get discontinued and then the trouble of pricing the stingray had confused me too about where is this actually going to stay.

Hope this gets all the goodies with the minimum price increase. As for safety features, can we ask for Curtain airbags?

[ahmad.007]

Originally Posted by carzone

That is what I was exactly thinking today morning. Came here and see you put it up. Conflicting things here made me think that. Some say the previous one won't get discontinued and then the trouble of pricing the stingray had confused me too about where is this actually going to stay.

Hope this gets all the goodies with the minimum price increase. As for safety features, can we ask for Curtain airbags?

Hehe .
The single variant theory was the only one that actually made sense to me. Sensible people do land on the same theories. :
As for the curtain balloons, even cars above that segment also lack these, so it would be pleasant surprise. I guess Abs+2 front airbags will be offered? Are they offered on the current top variant? Does the WagonR have a true top variant? I thought I knew almost everything. :lol

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by MHG

While it looks better than the current WagonR, it still looks incredibly stupid, like a square box on wheels.

You may not like this car ( neither do I ) but brand Wagon R is strong. This car is Santro contemporary but while Santro is long gone, this one not only refuses to go but actually racks up huge numbers on sales front. It trails only Alto and Swift / Dzire in terms of sales. Some months it comes within striking distance.

Therefore, MUL probably felt their is room for a loaded variant. BTW, I saw one on some forum with start/stop button and shift paddles at steering. Will these features really make it here?

[gomzi]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

Therefore, MUL probably felt their is room for a loaded variant. BTW, I saw one on some forum with start/stop button and shift paddles at steering. Will these features really make it here?

Well that would indeed be a nice surprise, IF it happens I'll probably be first in line to exchange my 2006 WagonR for this.
But Maruti haven't been known to favour AT gearboxes too much and even try to dissuade you from ABS (I had tried booking a Swift Vdi ABS long back).

[Viju]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

This car is Santro contemporary but while Santro is long gone, this one not only refuses to go but actually racks up huge numbers on sales front.

The current WagonR has no relation to the one launched in 1999 / 2000 (which you probably referred to as a contemporary of the Santro). Although WagonR looks very similar and boxy in every generation, this is based on an all new platform which was first launched in JDM around 2005 / 2006.

And to answer some of the questions being raised in this thread:

1) Engine - no diesel, no K12M
2) Transmission - no automatic
3) Paddle shift - no
4) Whether current model will continue - Yes, this is an additional top-of-the-line variant with alloys and fresh black interiors (a few more features which I cannot remember)

Not sure what other expectations are being built up around this model, but please don't expect anything ground-breaking. Let us just say, this is a proper variant MSIL is adding to its line-up, with decent value addition, unlike the regular 'special edition' mockery.

[ahmad.007]

Originally Posted by Viju

The current WagonR has no relation to the one launched in 1999 / 2000 (which you probably referred to as a contemporary of the Santro). Although WagonR looks very similar and boxy in every generation, this is based on an all new platform which was first launched in JDM around 2005 / 2006.

And to answer some of the questions being raised in this thread:

1) Engine - no diesel, no K12M
2) Transmission - no automatic
3) Paddle shift - no
4) Whether current model will continue - Yes, this is an additional top-of-the-line variant with alloys and fresh black interiors (a few more features which I cannot remember)

Not sure what other expectations are being built up around this model, but please don't expect anything ground-breaking. Let us just say, this is a proper variant MSIL is adding to its line-up, with decent value addition, unlike the regular 'special edition' mockery.

We all know that the current gen WagonR is all new platformed, but it still is a WagonR. You seem to refuse it as a WagonR and a rival to the Santro? Santro fanboy, eh?
The new Swift is all new, but then it is still undeniably a Swift. The Santro received mild updates throughtout its life, and people say that the all new Santro was termed as i10, with the old model kept continued. Had Hyundai badged the i10 as a Santro, it would have been a Santro.
And to answer questions about StingRay, we know no diesel and no K12m.
And we also know the idea of paddle shifters is :.
But how are you so sure about the automatic? Why not? Any reliable sources? Please justify, because it would be such a boon to WagonR, but blow to A-Star AT(not that A-Star AT is selling in huge numbers).

[MHG]

Originally Posted by ahmad.007

Ok, auto manufacturers do utilize these allowance fully to make a car. Ex-Maruti Swift Dzire, Honda Amaze, Ford Ecosport, but wait, they do not belong to this segment, why do people forget that stretching a car to 4 meters will be costlier than a car of 3.2 meters, it is not only about tax benefits, its about practicality, city cars need to be small on the outside, large on inside, that is what WagonR is about. And sometimes, people do need small cars, that are lighter amd more fuel efficient than the "just sub-4 meter" cars.

Making the car longer does not make it radically more expensive. There are various other factors which affect price. And most of the C1 segment examples you quoted have much fatter margins than the typical B1 segment cars, as their price is dictated by the market. If a company wants to cut costs, there are a lot of ways to do so apart from making a car much smaller.

Even if the short length (which BTW is not 3.2m but 3.6m according to Maruti's website which seems to exceed Kei length of 3.4m) can be tolerated, it is the Kei-car width that puts me off totally. I mean right now the Indica eV2 Xeta competes with the Wagon R in the same price segment (and incidentally, is just 9cm longer) and it is a really comfortable 5-seater. Wagon R on the other hand is a really tight squeeze. If they reduced the height and increased the width, and made the body look less like a box it'll be a much nicer car.

Originally Posted by pgsagar

You may not like this car ( neither do I ) but brand Wagon R is strong. This car is Santro contemporary but while Santro is long gone, this one not only refuses to go but actually racks up huge numbers on sales front. It trails only Alto and Swift / Dzire in terms of sales. Some months it comes within striking distance.

True that. But the sole reason the Wagon R owns the market is due to the severe lack of choice in India, because the competition either has infamy due to a lot of niggles (Indica), expensive ASS (Santro/i10) or limited network (Micra Active).

Originally Posted by pgsagar

Therefore, MUL probably felt their is room for a loaded variant. BTW, I saw one on some forum with start/stop button and shift paddles at steering. Will these features really make it here?

Those features are for JDM. Wagon R there comes with 0.65L turbo-charged engine, 4x4, automatic transmission and paddle shifter.