[Xsailor]

Insider information: Launch date is confirmed for 7th May.

[Ram]

Originally Posted by khanak

Well thats what I had thought of too. However worldwide Suzuki is planning on replacing the Liana/Aerio with the SX4 sedan. It wouldnt make sense for Maruti to do that. The Esteem is a reallllly outdated product,But is replacing it with another outdated product really the answer?


PS: Can the title of the thread be changed to "Baleno replacement - SX4 sedan to be released"

I agree with you khanak. IMHO, SX4 is not a Baleno replacement at all.

It's a whole new vehicle carrying its own personal burden of building or destroying a reputation.

The timing of the launch of the new tall-boy SX4
happens to be contemporary with discontinuation of the Baleno.

But that by itself does not make it a replacement, even if it was named Baleno, which it thankfully isn't!

History is witness,
to a very sporty cult-status 1957 Thunderbird being replaced by a heavy non-sporty sedan-oriented 1958 Thunderbird. The 1958 and its descendants permanently wrecked the Thunderbird reputation, never to recover again.

Even here in India, we have seen a very well proportioned, well balanced Honda City being replaced
by a cab-forward Thai hatchback/van-derivative Fit Aria with the beauty of a Kissing Gourami.
Even relabeling it Honda City by the manufacturer could not retrieve the OHC's sure-footed reputation.

Same thing with the very desirable Zen being replaced by the shoebox Zen Estilo van. Would Team-BHPians ever care to do an e-Estilo or b-Estilo?

Thence, my submission that SX4 is not a replacement for the Baleno.

If you ask me, I would have preferred something sleeker as a replacement for the Baleno.

To give an idea....
Something sleek like the 2008 Subaru Legacy.



Ram

[mclaren1885]

Apparently a tuner friend of mine (no its not psycho) got to test drive the sx-4 a few days back .. The car handles really well , he was all praises for the suspension .. However the engine felt a tad underpowered to him ..
Weird that , however I still havent heard about the specs of the engine from him and he is out of station .. I guess it shall not be that long a wait after all .. With the launch due really shortly ..

[kopper]

Hello everyone. Just got hold of these at youtube. Enjoy.

YouTube - Maruti SX4 India

YouTube - Maruti Sx4 India

YouTube - Maruti Sx4 blueprint leaked before launch

[sajo]

Originally Posted by ram

Same thing with the very desirable Zen being replaced by the shoebox Zen Estilo van. Would Team-BHPians ever care to do an e-Estilo or b-Estilo?

Ram

Very well put! Newer cars, though do very well saleswise than the ones they replaced, fail to evoke "Ohh man....I want thaat!" , in a car enthusiast.
IMHO, the concept should be carried forward in the next iteration...

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by noviceDriver

Many people will....even if MUL sets the price of SX4 in the level of the City's....people will flock to buy the same for the added safety features of ABS+EBD...

That would be too much to hope for, average Indian buyer wouldn't care hoots about ABS or EBD. When I recommended ABS option to my father-in-law, his reaction was he doesn't expensive fancy toys to jack up the cost. Most would see it as only expensive toys and nothing more, they would gladly give up seat belts if that saves some money.

[HSV]

Samurai, very rightly said indeed. Most of the population in general here would definitely give up seat belts if given a choice for cost reduction - leave alone opting for ABS + EBD.

A point in case is the care-the-least attitude of many of us Delhiites. No one flinches even once before we send our kids to play school on shoddy and badly maintained school vans which rattle and squeak every time the drivers hit the brakes - constantly overloaded - overspeeding.

Did we ever consider safety then??? Frankly I have purchased a baby seat for my kid and make sure he is buckled up every time in the back seat when he's in the car. BUT HOW CAN I OVERLOOK the time time his school van comes to pick him up. Convenience I guess.

Although I do insist the driver doesnt overload, and make sure that he sits me kid in the back seat and not the front. Had this been overseas, the druver wouldnt have been allowed to seat more kids than the seating capacity - and that too not allowed without seat-belts!

I guess we're just Indians - and we have that 'chalta hai / jugaar' approach to everything in life - as long as we save a few bucks in the bargain.

[pogusingh]

Guys
D-Day is approaching fast .......
Check http://marutisx4.com/index.html

-POGU

[bhanusrinivas]

Guys
D-Day is approaching fast .......
Check http://marutisx4.com/index.html

-POGU

try this out
https://marutisx4.com/index.html

[hmishra83]

I am excited...to say the least

[Wimwian]

Originally Posted by pogusingh

Guys
D-Day is approaching fast .......
Check http://marutisx4.com/index.html

-POGU

He he... nice find Pogu. I remember people contemplating the website id for this car on this forum some time back... now we know!!

[tsk1979]

Actually you could have done a whois lookup a month ago and found out that the domain belongs to maruti.
The https site goes to NRI gift a car program!

[navdeep]

Internic | Whois

try here

[neoonwheels]

Have you seen this World Cup final between Aussie and Sri Lanka?? I am asking this coz: Maruti was advertising "SX4 coming soon....." panel as an ad strip... So guys SX4 is comming soon....

Cheers
NeoOnWheels

[navdeep]

Originally Posted by neoonwheels

Have you seen this World Cup final between Aussie and Sri Lanka?? I am asking this coz: Maruti was advertising "SX4 coming soon....." panel as an ad strip... So guys SX4 is comming soon....

Cheers
NeoOnWheels

Anytime now.. go through this thread and you get a lot of info