Maruti’s soon to be launched premium hatchback is now open for booking at all NEXA dealerships across India for a sum of Rs. 25,000. With just a few days remain for the launch, the highly awaited Baleno hatchback makes debut on NEXA website as ‘The Premium hatchback’. Showcased at Frankfurt motor show, Baleno is all new model build from a scratch especially for the Indian market.
The car will be placed above Swift in the premium hatchback segment and the competition will come from Hyundai Elite i20, Honda Jazz and Volkswagen Polo. The Baleno measures 3995mm in length, 1745mm in width, 1470mm in height and offers 355 liters of generous boot space. It comes with a wheelbase of 2520 mm and a ground clearance of 180 mm.
In India, Baleno will be offered with a choice of two diesel engines, 1.2l VTVT petrol that develops 84bhp@6000rpm and 115Nm of torque@4000rpm. There is also a tried and tested 1.3l DDis diesel engine producing 74bhp power and 190Nm of peak torque on board. The petrol will be available with both manual and CVT gearbox (in Delta Variant) while the diesel will arrive with a manual gearbox only. Unfortunately, the new 1.0l booster jet petrol engine will not be the part of Baleno in India, at least as of now.
The premium hatchback will be available in 7 rich colors– Pearl Arctic White, Granite Grey, Solid Fire Red, Ray Blue, Premium Urban Blue, Metallic Premium Silver and Autumn Orange.
Moreover, the specs and variant details have been leaked online ahead of its 26 October debut. The Baleno will be offered in four variants- Sigma, Delta, Zeta and Alpha. Here is the variant wise feature list of the car.
Sigma:
The entry level Sigma variant will get central locking, front power windows, dual horn, ABS with EBD, dual front airbags, AC with heater, blackened A-B-C pillars, gear shift indicator, rear parcel tray, front seat belts with pretensioners and limiters and tilt steering. The base variant misses out on alloy wheels.
Delta:
Auto HVAC, rear parking sensors, 60:40 rear seat spilt, all four power windows, full wheel cover, electrically adjustable ORVMs, keyless entry, rear wiper with defogger, steering mounted control and optional CVT.
Zeta:
Auto headlamps with follow me function and LED DRLs, UV cut glass, keyless entry and go, height adjustable driver seat, automatic day/night IRVM and alloy wheels.
Alpha:
The top end variant Alpha will come with all aforementioned features and projector headlights with DRLs, LED tail lamps, 7 inch touchscreen Smartplay infotainment system with Apple play and navigation, reverser parking camera, leather upholstery and separate screen for HVAC controls.
The Baleno will be the second model to be rolled out from NEXA dealerships while its offering got a mediocre response from the buyers. It will be interesting to see the price of Baleno as it will be pitched against some of the well established and crowd favorite products in the market
