[drpullockaran]

Quickie - The Economic Times

bye and wear your seat belts.

[blue_pulsar]

Originally Posted by drpullockaran

Quickie - The Economic Times

bye and wear your seat belts.

Thats a very old photoshop. You can find that pic in some thread in this forum too.

[kbk_75]

Originally Posted by ram

Some will never see the similarity, but many will.

Hahahaha! Are you serious?! Whatever else you may say about the Baleno, there is absolutely no similarity between that car's looks and a Camaro. None at all.

[ram_hyundai]

marutii is having enough grunt nowadays to shove off the competition.this car looks decent enough and if the price is 6-6.5 lakhs then sure enough to be a winner in all sense.
ram

[burnt.]

Originally Posted by ram

Some will never see the similarity, but many will.

I see plenty of the "some" who will find no similarity. But none of the "many" who see the similarity have voiced their opinion. I wonder why.

Originally Posted by ram

Oh well, you will need to put on your engineering hat. I will have to elaborate and teach about profiles.

Sure? or is it just a suspicion? Can you share data like I did?

Well I'm putting on my engineering hat and from whatever engineering i know, I'm saying that every design is made to serve a purpose keeping hundreds of things in mind. It's not just a piece of imagination. If that was so every 10th grade kid who adores cars would be able to design them.

So, it's not my "suspicion" my friend. Every car out there, looks the way it looks, coz the designer had solid reasons to make it look so. It may or may not end up with aesthetic appeal. I'm sure the Swift sedan designers had their reasons for designing the rear the way it is.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by ram

Can you share data like I did?

What was the data?

That the baleno rear looks bad because fog lamps need to be 100mm away from brake lights?

[1100D]

Originally Posted by ram

1) Why was the Baleno designed with a flat cutoff tail surface.
The flat tail surface is a Kamm design -- based on the research of the German aerodynamicist Wunibald Kamm. Herr Kamm showed that a better drag-reducing tail end design for a car is one that tapers and is then cut off abruptly. The cut-off should occur where the cross sectional area is approximately 50% of the car's maximum cross-section.

Counter-intuitively, a teardrop aerodynamic shape that tapers smoothly to a point is not optimal. It leads to surface drag which disappears when the tail is cutoff.
So there is a very good reason for the flat cutoff Baleno tail being designed the way it is.

2) Did any other design have this flat cutoff look?
Yes, the Suzuki Baleno's rounded haunches, flat tail surface and the taillight cluster seems to be a variation of the design of the tail of the 4th generation Chevrolet Camaro.

2) Why are the taillight clusters large enough to protrude inwards, the way they do?
For good reason. Unlike some other cheap-looks-high-price cars, the Baleno is a Euro design with provision for foglamps.
According to European ECE Regulation 38, SAE J1319, vehicles must be equipped with one or two bright red "rear fog lamps/fog taillamps".
These are switched on manually by the driver, when visibility is poor, so that the vehicle is conspicuously visible from the rear.
Like a brake lamp., the brightness of a rear fog lamp must be over 150 candelas but no more than 300 candelas.
US law does not require rear fog lamps, so Balenos exported to USA had the rear fog lamp wired to the brake lamp circuit.

Cheaper cars have only one rear fog lamp instead of two. The cut-cost design uses a reversing lamp position on one side, as a red fog lamp on the other side. How ugly!
There are lots of these asymmetric tail lamp designs in India, despite their inflated prices.
Not the Baleno -- it had symmetric rear clusters with separate tail-light, brake-light, turn-signal-light, reverse-light and fog-light (the latter present but not wired in the Maruti offering).

To ensure rear fog lamps are not mistaken as brake lamps, ECE Regulations require a minimum separation of 100 mm between adjacent illuminated edges of brake lamps and rear fog lamps. That is why the Baleno rear cluster is as below.

There are a lot of examples of Kamm profiles, like the Corvette itself. The tail of which do look awesome.

Even the 100mm spacing has been achieved by other manufacturers in a different way, sometimes including the decklid as part of the tail lamp housing.

The rear ends do look similar but unlike the camaro's spoiler which is integrated in the body design, this Baleno has an accessory spoiler.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by faisalmagnet

:: AUTOCAR INDIA - CAR AND BIKE MAGAZINE ::

THANKS,AUTOCARINDIA.

Yes, and they have very nicely stolen the spy- pics.

[naughtyfaction]

CNBC TV18 is flashing news today about Swift Sedan:
1. Swift Sedan to replace Esteem.
2. Swift Sedan to be launched in early 2008
3. Esteem production stopped
4. Swift Sedan will be produced in 80% diesel and 20% petrol versions
5. Swift Sedan to be in range of 4-5 lacs.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by naughtyfaction

4. Swift Sedan will be produced in 80% diesel and 20% petrol versions
5. Swift Sedan to be in range of 4-5 lacs.

Press! What else to say!

Swift pricing is between 4- 5.5. it could only be 50k above! 80% diesel?

[ranc]

Originally Posted by naughtyfaction

CNBC TV18 is flashing news today about Swift Sedan:
4. Swift Sedan will be produced in 80% diesel and 20% petrol versions
5. Swift Sedan to be in range of 4-5 lacs.

Cant be true, Swift diesel sells for 5 + so this has to sell for 5.5 + for its different variants, the Petrol sells for 4 + so this has to sell for 4.5 +. I think the pricing will be close to 4.75 to 5.25 for petrol and 5.75 to 6.25 for diesel.

[bIte tHe bulLet]

Originally Posted by naughtyfaction

CNBC TV18 is flashing news today about Swift Sedan:
1. Swift Sedan to replace Esteem.
2. Swift Sedan to be launched in early 2008
3. Esteem production stopped
4. Swift Sedan will be produced in 80% diesel and 20% petrol versions
5. Swift Sedan to be in range of 4-5 lacs.

hey guys, i like the looks of this b*s****ised swift!! i don't buy into the argument that maruti is pushing a boot onto the swift coz' it's the easiest thing to do with a hatch...

at a price point of even 5+ lacs, this car makes immense sense for someone who wants to run a diesel... considering that maruti are going to wait till hell freezes over before putting a diesel in the sx4 - this seems the obvious answer to plug a gaping requirement in their lineup of diesel cars.

with the fiat multijet - theres an engine that is gorgeous, added to a car that is doing very well with the attraction of a boot for the average 'double income single car' family to own a damn good diesel sedan.

i rest my case and am ready to pull out my chequebook.

[PatchyBoy]

Oh well, whats next? A Mini Cooper Sedan or something? Why do people take a perfectly good looking and successful car, attach a boot and make it a sedan? I hope this contraption is 3 Box.

I wish we had a nice Rolls hatch....

Rajan

[jkdas]

Petrol by March,diesel later
Maruti to halt Esteem, replace it with Swift