The next global premium hatchback by Suzuki, international name of which has been announced as Baleno (and Indian codename is YRA), is set to be unveiled a few days later at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Placed over the Swift, the new Baleno will be sold in Europe only next year but signs of a possible Indian launch sooner than that are apparent.
India is one of the most important market for Suzuki and reflecting that is, what appears to be, the roll out of the first unit of the Baleno at one of its assembly lines in India. The good folks at The Automotive India have shared images of the first Baleno built for sales.
Rivalling products like the Jazz, Elite i20 and Polo, Baleno is set to be powered by the same 1.3 litre multijet sourced from Fiat and the familiar 1.2 litre petrol mill from the Swift. There are words that Suzuki might also bring in their new 1.0 Liter Turbocharged Boosterjet petrol engine but its not confirmed for our market. Europe will get this though!
Loaded with projector head lamps in some variants, the car carries a lot of design inspiration from the Swift. The smiley chrome grille appears inspired from Nissan cars. Overall, the looks are not aggressive and Maruti Suzuki has tried to play safe.. a little too safe actually! But yes, it does look BIG and may attract more mature buyers.
You can also sneak some interior pics of the premium hatchback which reveal that the twin pod driver instrumentation cluster is typical Maruti Suzuki. It also gets a touch screen infotainment system which is possibly the same one as seen in the Ciaz diesel SHVS with a variety of buttons in grey.
With the new fabulous looking i20 registering 10,000 units monthly, going against will not be easy despite the Maruti Suzuki moniker. Let us wait and see how the company presents this to the world…
