[navdeep]

Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) is driving afresh into the sedan car segment in India after Esteem and Baleno. And to start with, the Japanese auto giant is rolling out a new sedan SX4 in the Indian market by April-end or May.

To be showcased at the Geneva Auto show — starting March 8 — the all new sedan will be manufactured at SMC's Indian subsidiary Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) and will be sold in India under the Maruti Suzuki brand. This is also SMC's first sedan in China where it is being manufactured locally and will be sold under the Suzuki brand.

The sedan will be positioned in the A3 segment, which constitutes 15% of the passenger car market in India and a growing chunk of the same in China.

According to market sources, the new sedan will be petrol driven and will be priced between Rs 6 lakh and Rs 8 lakh, which means it will compete with mainly Lancer of Hindustan Motors, Verna of Hyundai Motors India and City of Honda Siel Cars.

Maruti set to drive in a new sedan by May-India Business-NEWS-The Times of India

[abhibh]

Yup even i read it in a newspaper today, but the shocking news is that baleno will have the same 1.3 ltr Diesel engine as in swift

[navdeep]

..but they are not launching Di as of now.Might launch 1.6 .

[kpzen]

Huh..!! Maruti is on a launching spree.....
In terms of pricing maruti has always been competitive.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by abhibh

Yup even i read it in a newspaper today, but the shocking news is that baleno will have the same 1.3 ltr Diesel engine as in swift

So what???

It is said to have another state of tune producing 90 bhp...

And Swift has 190 Nm torque... If this has anything above 200- 210 Nm... Thats Skoda Octavia matching figures for you...

[theMAG]

Originally Posted by abhibh

Yup even i read it in a newspaper today, but the shocking news is that baleno will have the same 1.3 ltr Diesel engine as in swift

Its only a petrol option for now.

[rahul_intlad]

The company is unlikely to borrow the Baleno brand for the new SX4 sedan, though the new car will essentially replace the old model in terms of positioning.
The new sedan will be launched with an all-new 1.6-litre petrol engine and possibly with the same 1.3-litre DDiS diesel engine that is currently being offered with the Swift. The SX4 sedan will be Suzuki`s second world car after the Swift.The car is likely to be launched in India by May.

The pricing is expected to be in the range of Rs 6 lakh to Rs 7.5 lakh. Suzuki has chosen to launch the sedan version of the SX4 only in the Indian and Chinese markets.

Source:
Maruti to launch three-box car in India

[hydrashok]

Originally Posted by rahul_intlad

The company is unlikely to borrow the Baleno brand for the new SX4 sedan, though the new car will essentially replace the old model in terms of positioning.

Very intelligent decision, IMHO.

[1100D]

IMO they should also name some of these cars as the Fiat sedici to capture the market of the people who want to buy a Fiat (as this is essentially jointly developed by Fiat and Suzuki). Since Fiat only wants to test its cars in India without any intention of launching them or selling them, this should not be a problem if Maruti sells some cars which bear the Fiat name.

[theMAG]

Its surprising to note that Suzuki plans to sell this SX4 sedan only in the Indian and Chinese markets. Is that that they have more money than they want to?

[askicode]

I dont think the SX4 would be priced at 6 lakhs. Indications are more on between 7 lakh to 8 lakh bracket. The last issue of AutoCar also states the same and so does the following website http://www.telegraphindia.com/107030...ry_7465383.asp

This new car is suppose to be a placed at the top end of A3 segment.

I guess there would be another model which would be priced between 4.5 to 6 lkhs. A likely would be a replacement of the current esteem.

AutoCar suggest the launch of the esteem replacement to be sometime next Jan and would likely be the 3 box version of the Swift

[shuvc]

Mods, maybe this thread should be merged with the New Baleno thread.

[kutlee]

SX4. Does it have anything to do with 4 wheel drive (in India?). Checked US site and it shows all wheel drive.

[Su-47]

Originally Posted by rahul_intlad

all-new 1.6-litre petrol engine

From what I gathered from a maruti sales guy last week, the new baleno would use the same engine as current one, but tuned a little differently to produce 100+ bhp.

So, what is this "all-new petrol engine" all about? Going by Maruti's track record of surprising customers, anything is possible

[THE-U-]

Originally Posted by kutlee

SX4. Does it have anything to do with 4 wheel drive (in India?). Checked US site and it shows all wheel drive.

Its an AWD hatch in the US with 0 to 60mph (100kmph) of 12 seconds. Pretty slow with the 2L Petrol engine. Hope the India SX4 Sedan will not be this slow. Don't know why Suzuki and Hyundai/ Kia cars are generally heavier than the competition.