India’s number one carmaker Maruti Suzuki is eyeing the crossover segment with Ignis which is scheduled to launch during the festive season. Crossovers and its lookalike vehicles such as Mahindra KUV100, Renault Kwid has enjoyed quite a success in recent past and Datsun did same with Redi-Go to cash it in. Now, Maruti is about to enter this segment with Ignis soon and this would be ominous signs for the other cars present in the segment.
Going on sale via Nexa, the Ignis will be the third product under the brand and will be placed below the Baleno premium hatch. The Sub 4m crossover measures 3700mm in length, 1660mm in width, 1598mm in height and has a wheelbase of 2438mm. The Ignis rides on 180mm of ground clearance and offers boot space of 258 liters which can be further expanded up to 415 liters by folding down the rear seats.
Reports suggest that Ignis might get three engines a retuned version of 1.2l K series petrol developing a bit more output than 84bhp and 114Nm of torque while the tried and tested 1.3l DDis diesel engine that develops 89bhp of max power and 200Nm of torque. Earlier, there were reports of it getting the famed AMT gearbox but owing to the good response of Baleno CVT; Ignis too will get the same CVT.
The Ignis sports tall boy stance with appealing front fascia featuring projector LED headlamp cluster, wide front grille and round-ish fog lamps. It has big wheel arches and clean character lines with quirky looking rear profile. Though Ignis looks compact from the outset but it is quite spacious with supportive seats and ample legroom inside.
Inside is a tablet like touchscreen system, new multi function steering wheel, dual tone dashboard and retro AC controls. On the safety front, it is expected to get dual front airbags, electronic brake force distribution (EBD) with Anti-lock braking system (ABS). Ignis might fall in the price range between Rs. 4.6 to 6.7 lakhs (ex-showroom).
