[hybridpetrol]

Originally Posted by vibbs

I am a little confused with this comparison. Is this the comparison that Maruti also wants? I am asking because, all these years Swift was compared to these cars. Now getting their 'premium' offering also compared to the same cars, I think its missing a trick somewhere.

Which is why I believe Baleno needed to be better on the engine front. Bare minimum they should have given the 90 Hp variant of the MJD and the 1.4 Ltr K Series.

Ultimately, the comparison will happen based on the segment where it is launched, not the showroom where it is sold.
The buyer will buy just the car, not the showroom!

For now -
Baleno = Swift + Projector Headlamps + LED + Auto Headlamps + GPS Navigation + Rear parking Camera.
All this, minus the advantages of a wide Maruti network.

Keeping the supplies & showrooms minimum does not make the car attractive. Baleno is not as eye candy as an Elite i20!

[y2ksrs]

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

Compared to Swift, Baleno is lengthier by 145mm, wider by 50mm, but shorter by 30mm. However GC is 10mm more. Add to that the product freshness. Apart from that, I find the Sigma Petrol variant comparable to Swift VXi, except for the 2 airbag and ABS+EBD that Sigma has. However the Sigma variant lacks rear power windows.
Swift Vxi trades at 5.4L ex-showroom. To make the Baleno competitive, they should launch at 5.9L ex-showroom for the Sigma version. Sigma Diesel could start at 6.8L ex-showroom.
Delta variant seems to be compared to Swift Zxi / Zdi - but lacks Alloy wheels, seat height adjustment, fog lamps - so, due to lack of some features it can be placed similar to Swift Zxi /Zdi - about 6.4L / 7.4L for Delta petrol & Diesel. Delta has a CVT variant - add few thousands - 7.3L we should get Delta Petrol CVT.
Zeta - I don't think it adds a lot of costly features - at best it can be placed at 6.8L / 7.7L.
Alpha comes with projector headlights, AVN, reversing camera etc - add another few thousands - top variant should come at about 7.5L / 8.5L

My guesses:
Sigma 1.2L Petrol - 5.9L
Sigma 1.3L Diesel - 6.8L
Delta 1.2L Petrol - 6.4L
Delta 1.3L Diesel - 7.4L
Delta 1.2L Petrol AT - 7.3L
Zeta 1.2L Petrol - 6.8L
Zeta 1.3L Diesel - 7.7L
Alpha 1.2L Petrol - 7.5L
Alpha 1.3L Diesel - 8.5L

So the price band in my opinion - 5.9L - 8.5L

I would rather compare the Baleno with Dzire than Swift. Judging by how Hyundai and Honda have priced i20 and Jazz respectively, Maruti will be pricing Baleno well above the Dzire, probably at a premium of 30k to 50k. So I expect the Sigma Petrol to start at around 6.3 lacs. My guess on the pricing would be as follows:

Petrol:

Sigma : 6.3L
Delta : 6.8L
Delta AT : 7.2L
Zeta : 7.5L
Alpha : 8L

Diesel:

Sigma : 7.3L
Delta : 7.8L
Zeta : 8.5L
Alpha : 9L

I won't be surprised if the actual pricing is higher than my guess. Pricing lower than this would not justify the omission of CVT on Zeta variant.

October 26 will tell how good I'm at reading the market!!

[hybridpetrol]

Originally Posted by y2ksrs

I would rather compare the Baleno with Dzire than Swift. Judging by how Hyundai and Honda have priced i20 and Jazz respectively, Maruti will be pricing Baleno well above the Dzire, probably at a premium of 30k to 50k.

You could be right in your guess.
"Premium hatchback" Elite i20 is placed above the Grand i10 twin - Xcent.
Similarly the premium Baleno can be placed above Swift/Dzire twins.

Last time, the premium S-Cross was placed above the Ciaz sedan, and this time too similar thing can happen.

The USP here, would be even the lowest variant gets airbags + ABS + ESP. Now, Hyundai needs to re-visit its variants to make appropriate corrections.
It makes a really if Elite i20 comes with 2 airbags + ABS + ESP as standard across all variants.
Personally I feel, Elite i20 good looking than Baleno (just seeing pictures). If the safety features are available from Era+ variants, it would be a better buy compared to Baleno.

[freedom]

Originally Posted by y2ksrs

Petrol:

Alpha : 8L

Same here.

I don't see Baleno having any ground breaking/segment first features. So 8L for a run of the mill 1.2 petrol engine in a bigger sized body shell is way overpriced.
I can understand Boosterjet at 8L but not NA petrol.

Suzuki botched up the S-Cross pricing and in all likely hood, they will do the same mistake with Baleno.

[MetalBuff]

A bit disappointed in MSIL. A 1.4L petrol would have really set this one as a cat among the pigeons and would've become the clear choice of quite a lot of us. If Ford can plonk a 1.5L DCT and offer it at a yummy price, the least Maruti could do is equip their cars with decent engines particularly, the one they have employed in the rest of their models.

One doesn't dethrone the i20 with decisions like these. Hyundai will continue to bring in the numbers and it has the rest of the manufacturers to thank for making the battle so easy for them.

Cheerio,
-Shivang Gandotra

[hybridpetrol]

Originally Posted by freedom

Suzuki botched up the S-Cross pricing and in all likely hood, they will do the same mistake with Baleno.

They consider only premium customers enter Nexa showrooms, and hence the additional pricing is to give premium attention to them. Also, they need to make sure that, at any point of time, the showroom never gets crowded. For instance, if the pricing is too mouthwatering, anybody who is in the market for B2 hatchback would want to take a look at Baleno and thus making the showroom crowded!
Hope common sense prevails and the pricing is decent, in line with the features, so that the sales do make some justification for their new showrooms!

[spsam]

I spoke to the team in my NEXA dealership in Bangalore where I made my booking asking for feedback from the preview they had earlier this week. One thing they mentioned is to expect premium pricing for the Baleno around the price of the Elite i20 and Jazz. However, they also mentioned that they have learnt from the mistake made on the pricing for the S-Cross 1.6 and that Maruti would not repeat it. For a buyer choosing between the i20 and Baleno in petrol variants, this is something to wait and watch. For an indication, the i20 Asta (O) variant in petrol costs nearly Rs.9 lakhs OTR in Bangalore. Paying more than this for a Maruti Baleno Alpha will be extremely hard with the specs revealed during launch.

[HolyDriver]

ETAuto reports that Maruti will open bookings for Baleno next week (15 Oct) and booking amount will be Rs 30,000 though some dealers have already started bookings.

The car would be launched formally on October 26 and bookings will start from Oct 15. The booking amount is not finalised yet but it will be around Rs 30,000

It will have dual airbag, ABS, full touch-screen panel, built in navigation, and a boot space of 339 litres. Customers can expect mileage of around 20+kmpl for the diesel variants. The engine will be the same as of Swift and will be made in India.

Source: ETAuto

Providing a Boosterjet as an option at the launch itself would had been a perfect Diwali gift to Indian car buyers.

[rageshgr]

Really disappointed with the engine options. But really appreciate the fact that they gave safety features on all levels and that means even the AT gets safety features. That is so un-Maruti-sque , and a welcome move

[raghav135]

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

You could be right in your guess.
"Premium hatchback" Elite i20 is placed above the Grand i10 twin - Xcent.
Similarly the premium Baleno can be placed above Swift/Dzire twins.

Last time, the premium S-Cross was placed above the Ciaz sedan, and this time too similar thing can happen.

The USP here, would be even the lowest variant gets airbags + ABS + ESP. Now, Hyundai needs to re-visit its variants to make appropriate corrections.
It makes a really if Elite i20 comes with 2 airbags + ABS + ESP as standard across all variants.
Personally I feel, Elite i20 good looking than Baleno (just seeing pictures). If the safety features are available from Era+ variants, it would be a better buy compared to Baleno.

I guess you mean EBD not ESP. Really welcome move by maruti.

[thatsdileep]

If MSIL price the Baleno between Swift and DZire they might risk denting the Swift sales and if it's priced higher than DZire there is nothing special about this one for customers to buy in this market where there are plenty of newer and better options available. MSIL have put themselves into a situation here.

[swiftnfurious]

Quite disappointed with the engine options!! This car at least deserved a better tune for both engines over the closest sibling! Nothing premium about the car to be sold via NEXA. Hope Maruti doesn't see NEXA as an excuse for greedy pricing! I am still not convinced on paying a premium for this over Swift. I haven't liked the looks yet & might pick the Swift over this any day, Or may be the Figo over both.

Maruti - a premium customer is not one who goes after an extra 2 kmpl mileage, he/she is the one who looks for 'the experience' from the product. And that's exactly what the Elite i20 offers!

[SoumenD]

Guess instead of going judgmental and over-expecting (as with CRETA/S-Cross) based on guesstimates, we should keep speculating rather to keep the excitement going. Didn't maruti ad in some paper(remember seeing some post a few pages back) mention somewhere it will come with a powerful engine(or maybe new engine?)

Anyways, going by the current speculation(Swift engine options), if maruti provided the 1.3MJD VGT on this one, what differentiation would it have had with the S-Cross DDiS200? Except for maybe a slight extra space(rear seat & boot), feature and safety-equipment wise they would have been similar and owing to the sub 4m advantage considerably cheaper ultimately cannibalizing whatever sales the car(S-Cross) is generating. S-Cross is never gonna return numbers for the 1.6L MJD at current prices and maruti knew it right from the start. All the ads et all were just a marketing gimmick to generate interest in the product.

Now baleno is to be positioned a segment lower, so its pretty obvious it has to come with an option of lesser power, which leaves the 1.3 MJD FGT. Isn't Ciaz positioned similarly compared to the competition in its segment? Be it Verna, City, Rapid or vento. All of them are more powerful but Ciaz sells way better than most right? This one too will sell if not priced over-optimistically.


Wishful Note to Maruti : Please get in the boosterjet maybe at a later point to compete with Polo GT/Abarth? We all are always skeptical of the Fiat/VW A.S.S. You can play that advantage even if the power figures are a bit lower.

[volkman10]

Undisguised Baleno ( for training ) on Pune roads - A Polo look from side( 2nd pic) and rear profile!

Baleno looks best in Fire Red color. They seem to have struck off black as seen in their recent launches.

The Baleno will be available with the following color options :

Solid fire red
Premium urban blue
Metallic premium silver
Autumn orange
Ray blue
Pearl arctic white
Granite grey

http://www.motoroids.com/news/new-ma...ch-this-month/

[bansal1987]

Maruti Baleno Hatchback has been spied undisguised in Pune. Guys at Motoroids have got the catch.The car is in Orange color and seems to be Base/Base+1 version as this does not have alloy wheels.

http://www.motoroids.com/news/new-ma...ch-this-month/

To me, the car looks plain ugly and without any flair