Maruti Suzuki is planning a slew of new launches with the aim of cementing its position as the market leader in our market.
A few details of the Crossover SUV based on the Maruti Baleno are out. Maruti has been following its product offensive strategy vehemently this year with a plethora of launches already year-to-date. The new Brezza is about to make its appearance in a week too. After heavily updating almost its entire portfolio, Maruti has concrete plans of introducing new products in new segments in the future. Among these are products like a mid-size SUV (YGF) to rival the Hyundai Creta, a 5-door Jimny to rival the Mahindra Thar and a Crossover SUV based on Baleno to rival the likes of Nissan Magnite, Renault Kiger and Tata Punch.
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Details of Maruti Baleno Crossover SUV
Internally codenamed YTB, the Crossover SUV will be underpinned by the latest Heartect platform on which the new Baleno is based. This platform was designed keeping safety in mind. People nowadays are considering the safety rating of a car before making the purchase decision. Maruti realised this and offers 6 airbags in the Baleno and 4 airbags in the XL6 MPV. Hence, the YTB is expected to feature comprehensive safety equipment. This could prove to be an essential factor when competing against the Tata Punch which already has a 5-star safety rating.
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Design
As per some reports, the Maruti Baleno Crossover SUV could be inspired by the Futuro-E Concept that was showcased at the Auto Expo 2020. This concept bears a more flamboyant Coupe-Crossover design theme which might translate to the production-spec version in moderation. If that is the case, we might have a stunning product on our hands. However, the details of the styling will be much more elaborately revealed closer to the official unveiling only.
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Expected Specs
While there is not much information available regarding the powertrain options, we suspect it might come with a hybrid version of the existing 1.2-liter engine that is available on the Swift and Baleno along with the similar 5-speed MT and AMT transmission options. Nevertheless, the future holds promising products in-store that will offer great vehicles to the consumers and also increase healthy competition in the segment. We might see the launch sometime in 2023.
