New Maruti Suzuki Baleno rolls out
The Hindu
Maruti has launched the new Baleno in India with the price ranging between ₹ 6.35 lakh and ₹9.49 lakh (ex-showroom, India). The new Baleno will also be offered with Maruti Suzuki’s subscription scheme, with a monthly fee starting at ₹ 13,999 (including registration, maintenance, insurance and road side assistance).
The new vehicle has been given a significant styling update over the outgoing model. Up front, there is a wider, honeycomb-patterned grille flanked by new wraparound headlights, accompanied by a flatter clamshell bonnet, a re-profiled bumper and new fog light housings. The projector headlights are also wider and have a new three-element LED daytime running lamp signature.
On the side, there are new 16-inch alloy wheels, a sharper shoulder line and a longer chrome strip at the base of the window line that now extends up to the rear quarter glass. The rear features new bumpers and C-shaped LED tail-lights, which extends onto the tailgate.
Inside, the Baleno gets an all-new, three-layered design for the dashboard, which, in the top-spec model, gets a black top, a full-width silver accent in the middle and a dark blue finish at the bottom. This dark blue theme is carried over to the door cards and seat upholstery.
The updated Baleno also gets a new steering wheel, new front seats, new switchgear for climate control and a new design for the instrument cluster design.
The fully loaded Baleno Alpha comes with a 9.0-inch Smartplay Pro+ free-standing touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto, Apple CarPlay and Amazon Alexa support, ‘Suzuki Connect’ connected car tech, a heads-up display (HUD), 360-degree cameras, tilt and telescopic steering adjustment and much more. However, Maruti Suzuki has skipped offering a sunroof.
Powering the new Baleno is a solitary 90hp, 1.2-litre, four-cylinder DualJet K12N petrol engine, which can be had with either a 5-speed manual or a 5-speed AMT automatic gearbox (replacing the older model’s CVT unit). ARAI-claimed fuel economy of the new engine with the manual gearbox is 22.35kpl, while the new AMT returns 22.94kpl.
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