Maruti Suzuki Baleno, one of the best selling hatchbacks in the country was launched in four trims. Earlier CVT was available only in Zeta and Delta grades but now it is also available on Alpha grade. The fully loaded Alpha CVT is now available at Rs. 8.34 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). Maruti has already retailed more than 2 lakh units in India with 1 lakh sales achieved within a year of its launch.
Maruti began the AMT thing with the launch of Celerio hatchback three years ago. Riding on its huge success, Maruti expanded its AMT portfolio with Alto K10 and Baleno. Besides CVT, top spec Alpha grade comes loaded with features like touchscreen infotainment system with Apple car play, Android Auto, auto climate control, Projector headlamps with LED daytime running lights, 16-inch alloy wheels, power windows and much more.
The CVT equipped variant gets its power from a 1.2 l 1197cc petrol engine that makes 83bhp power@6000rpm and 115Nm of torque@4000rpm. Transmission duty is taken care by a 5-speed manual and a CVT gearbox. The diesel counterpart gets its juice from a 1.3l DDIS diesel engine that makes 89bhp power and 200Nm of torque, linked to a 5-speed manual gearbox.
For Safety, Baleno gets dual front airbags, ABS (Anti-lock braking system) and EBD (Electronic brake force distribution) as standard across the range. Recently, Maruti has also launched performance version of Baleno badged as Baleno RS.
The RS version gets a 1.0l boosterjet engine which is good for 100bhp power and 150Nm of torque, paired to a 5-speed manual gearbox. The Baleno is first Maruti to be exported to over 100 countries and over 68,000 units have already exported to various countries like New Zealand, Australia and many parts of Europe.
