[blue_pulsar]

Originally Posted by romeomidhun

Is the A-Star coming with the old Zen 996CC engine? It is said that A-Star is coming with a new K-series engine - having 996 CC. I remember, the old Zen had a 996CC engine. So, the A-Star is using it, may be with some modifications, and calling it K-series?

The Zen engine was a delight to drive. Lets hope the new engine will be on the same lines. I'm eagerly waiting!

[aaggoswami]

Recently came across this news claiming that A-star will be coming in Mid November.
A bit late but mostly this car will be shown to public in full production format in Paris motor show in starting of October.
This car is expected to have 1.0 ltr k-series motor ( as we all know ).


Source:
Maruti A-Star to be launched in Nov


Article.

Maruti A-Star to be launched in Nov

Bangalore, The latest passenger car from Maruti Suzuki, the onelitre A-Star model is expected to cost about Rs 4 lakh (ex-showroom) and will be launched during mid-November.

An official with Maruti Suzuki told newspersons that the A-Star will also be exported under the Nissan badge to Europe and the Middle East and will be called Pixo. Nissan can also sell the same car in India as well under a different brand. The new car is also perhaps the only model in the world which will have 750 variants as it will be sold across 151 countries including Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia and Africa, the official said.

Maruti Suzuki is also increasing the number of engineers working in its R&D centre from the current level of 570 engineers to about 1,000 by 2010. Another R&D centre is also expected to set up shortly.

The official said Maruti Suzuki will manufacture about 1 lakh car units of the A-Star a year for the export market and 50,000 for the domestic market. The same model will be made for Nissan under a contract manufacturing arrangement. The A-Star will be the fifth world strategic model from Suzuki which means the same car can be manufactured simultaneously in other countries. Suzuki will sell the same car in Europe but under the Alto as well as under the Celerio names.

The car manufacturer will use the K-series engine for the gasoline driven car and the engine production will begin in October this year. The official said the A-Star has been positioned as an A2 premium segment car. The A2 segment has a 71 per cent share of the Indian passenger car market which is about 1.3 million units.

The official said the A-Star model will be the eighth car launched by the company in four years. He said time to market for Maruti Suzuki had come down significantly. Earlier, Maruti Suzuki used to take between two and three years to launch a new model.

The A-Star model is part of the Rs 9,000-crore investment plan spread across five years (ending 2010).

According to the plan, Rs 2,500 crore is being invested in setting up a diesel facility which will have the capacity to produce 3 lakh engines by 2010. Another Rs 2,500 crore is being invested for the Manesar plant for expansion and upgradation and the rest for setting up the K-series engine plant and for upgradation and expansion of the Gurgaon plant.

The A-Star will be the fifth car platform for Maruti Suzuki.

Maruti Suzki is also increasing the number of dealership outlets across the country to 1,000 by 2010 from the current level of 600. During 2007-08, Maruti Suzuki sold 7.11 lakh cars in the domestic market and exported about 53,000 units of Maruti 800 and Alto cars. By 2010, Maruti Suzuki expects to export about 2 lakh cars mostly driven by the A-Star model.

[rajtheindian]

Latest edition of topgear says Suzuki is launching a car to bridge the narrow gap between Swift and Splash...and it is A-Star
I thought A-Star is positioned between Splash and Alto

[S_budhiraj]

Originally Posted by rajtheindian

Latest edition of topgear says Suzuki is launching a car to bridge the narrow gap between Swift and Splash...and it is A-Star
I thought A-Star is positioned between Splash and Alto

Between Swift and Splash, Is Topgear gone crazy

Both the Swift and Splash are bigger cars and comes into next level. A star is the replacement of Alto, so how come it could be between swift and Splash.

[nikunj_cal]

Ok, If the price is 4L then i really dont think A-star will be a replacement for alto ! I mean there are a huge number of Alto base version being sold which is close to 3L OTR !

[deadman]

1] As i sow A Star snap which showed at Autoexpo Delhi I was impressed and wated to have it.
2] After few month as i checked production snaps, I was upset.Still wanted to wait for real one.
3] As i came to know that will be coming in this month end or in Oct first week, i was happy.
4]Later came to know that it will come in Nov, but sales man from Maruti says that it will be available in Dec.
5] If i wait for that, it may have another 1-2 month waiting period atleast.

so decided and today itself booked Hyundai i10 era.

[SWIFTheart]

Officially 2009 Suzuki Alto data and pictures gallery — AUTOinCAR

[meghan]

Source: From netcarshow.com

[sidindica]

a-star photos from mondial de l'automobile, Paris

[tushky]

huh!!! look at the rear door window..cant open it..

[1100D]

I don't see a reason why a 4 door car should have a fixed rear window. Hope its not the same at Indian launch.

[im_srini]

Originally Posted by tushky

huh!!! look at the rear door window..cant open it..

Originally Posted by 1100D

I don't see a reason why a 4 door car should have a fixed rear window. Hope its not the same at Indian launch.

Yeah, that would be a real bummer...

But from the 2nd image here , it looks like the rear window is retractable. Let's hope the Maruti guys haven't allowed a truly bad idea like that through !

And on another note, the rear sill seems a tad too high - the rear's all bumper.

The scoop pics in the first post & the latest ones from the Paris Auto Show indicate a separate tach on the dash - I sure hope that feature's retained

[Mpower]

Did anybody realise that this uses an all new 1.0 liter '3'-cylinder engine.

Originally Posted by tushky

huh!!! look at the rear door window..cant open it..

you can't roll in down, but you can vent it like in a coupe. I guess the back seat is not used much in western countries.

[mikephil007]

Originally Posted by deadman

1] As i sow A Star snap which showed at Autoexpo Delhi I was impressed and wated to have it.
2] After few month as i checked production snaps, I was upset.Still wanted to wait for real one.
3] As i came to know that will be coming in this month end or in Oct first week, i was happy.
4]Later came to know that it will come in Nov, but sales man from Maruti says that it will be available in Dec.
5] If i wait for that, it may have another 1-2 month waiting period atleast.

so decided and today itself booked Hyundai i10 era.

Did u get the information from a maruti dealership? If so , which one?

[blue_pulsar]

Also, did anyone notice that there are NO adjustable front seat headrests like i10. I didn't like the interiors that much. Swift has better looking interiors IMO.