Maruti’s City-Nemesis Beautilicious Ciaz Spied Testing Again; September Launch

A reader of Motorbeam.com has shared photographs of Maruti’s up and coming sedan – the Ciaz. The clumsily covered-up car was spotted near Maruti’s facility at Gurgaon undergoing road tests.

The Ciaz, as the discerning reader will remember, is Maruti-Suzuki’s attempt at gate-crashing the City-Vento-Verna party. Going strictly by the concept showcased at the Expo 2014, one would rather think that the Ciaz will have the party gate respectfully opened for it without it touching it.

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The Ciaz will replace the otherwise capable but not-so-exciting SX4 and is expected to be a leg up on the big car and will thus be placed a rung upwards from where the SX4 departs. The SX4 currently retails its variants between INR 7.15 – INR 9.5 lakhs, whereas the Ciaz, with its longer feature list and accoutrements will be asking a bit more – the guesstimates; informed at that, tags the new sedan from between INR 9.0-12.0 lakhs.

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The price points aren’t entirely farfetched either. When your intentions are to take on well trenched-in rivals you will be required to bring in the fireworks, and they don’t come cheap. What plays into the hands of Maruti is what the learned call as ‘home-ground advantage’. If restive teammates at Maruti-Suzuki Gurgaon factory don’t spring up another surprise on the production floor, there is a cast iron chance that the Ciaz will have the Honda, Volkswagen and the Hyundai huffing in no time.

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This is when one of our reader spotted the car around NCR. Click pic for more spy pics & details

What we saw at the Auto Expo was a scorcher but it is the the expected engine list that is not what we feel is very exciting. According to speculations, Ciaz is is expected to get the 1.4L K-Series petrol engine from Ertiga and the 1.3L DDIS from the current crop of cars. But remember these are just speculations and we would not mind getting pleasantly surprised!

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Maruti is expected to launch Ciaz somewhere around September-October this year and it will also get an automatic transmission; will it be AMT or proper CVT is not confirmed yet. Also remember Ciaz is nothing but the ‘YL1‘, spyshots of which we have shared with you many a times earlier.

Related Reading: List of 4 Upcoming Sedans Between Rs 7-11 Lakhs in 2014

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