Maruti Suzuki cars go crazy at 2014 Auto Expo
Being at the top also means there is more competition, and the ones at the top also need to work harder if they want to stay on top. The same also goes to Maruti Suzuki, the country’s largest car manufacturer in terms of sales numbers. In order to stay on top, Maruti Suzuki has to keep the customers coming back to them, and in order for them to do that, they need to keep launching new cars packed with the latest in technology at frequent intervals.
At the Auto Expo this year, the competitors of Maruti Suzuki increased in number, and their products too were very good. This meant, Maruti Suzuki had their work cut out for them, and they pulled it off in style. The designers at Maruti Suzuki showed-off their creativity by displaying the following vehicles at the Auto Expo earlier this year. Here’s a brief:
Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara Luxion:
The Grand Vitara Luxion is a totally pimped up Grand Vitara. The engine, transmission and all other mechanical components remain unchanged and most of the changes are only aesthetic. From the front, one will immediately notice the redesigned bumpers with integrated Daytime running lights and slightly redesigned and tinted headlamps.
The Grand Vitara Luxion also gets new chrome side-skirts, mirrors with integrated turn indicators, and new dual spoke alloy wheels. The rear of the car is characterised by the chrome strip running across the car, the spoiler on the roof and the weirdly designed skirt on the bumper.
Maruti Suzuki Gypsy Escapade:
A cult icon was back in the limelight, as Maruti Suzuki decided to display the Gypsy at the Auto Expo. The Gypsy has always been a favourite among the Off-Roading and rallying enthusiasts in India, but since mass production was stopped, the demand for the vehicle has gone down completely. This year, at the Auto Expo, Maruti Suzuki decided to bring back memories of the good ol’ mountain goat by displaying a souped-up version of the Gypsy.
Dressed in sunflower yellow, the Gypsy escapade looked like it meant serious business. Most of the front part remains the same, except that, the front bumper has been shrunk in order for it to look and work like a perfect off-road machine.
One also can’t help but notice the chrome rims, shod with Dunlop Grandtrek off-road tires, and the chrome ORVM’s. The display vehicle also had a bicycle mounted in the rear, encouraging the spirit of adventure. The suspension gets a lift kit, and strengthened leaf springs, but the drive-train of the vehicle remains unchanged.
Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 Krescendo:
The Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 Krescendowas yet another cosmetically modified car at the Maruti Suzuki stable. It gets a redesigned front bumper and redesigned wheels as well. This time, the car gets a brownish-grey paint job with bright orange stripes on the hood, the ORVM’s and IRVM too are painted in bright orange, and so is a major part of the roof. The seats too get the dual-tone colour treatment. Even the Suzuki logo on the grille is orange. The overall theme of the paint job seems to be that of a music lover as the graphics on the side suggest.
The mechanicals of the car is likely to remain the same as on the regular Alto K10, which is powered by a 997cc, 3-cylinder K-series engine, with a max output of 67 BHP.
Maruti Suzuki WagonR StingRay Custom:
The Stingray Custom was one of the best looking cars in the Maruti Suzuki booth at the Auto Expo. The Stingray Custom is exactly the same as the regular stingray in terms of mechanical stuff like, the drive-train, suspension etc. but there are quite a few differences as well. The Stingray Custom gets redesigned, diamond-cut alloy wheels, new fog lamp housings and a new body color as well.
The differences are greater, inside the car. The Stingray Custom gets a sunroof, heads-up-display navigation and new stereo systems as well. The seats get blue lining all over it, crisscrossing like a net, and the same goes for the upholstery on the doors as well.
The mechanicals of the car are unlikely to be changed from the regular stingray.
Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire Opula:
The Swift Dzire Opula is a regular Swift Dzire, having the same mechanical components, but with extensive changes to the exterior and interior. On the outside, up front, the car gets projector headlamps with daytime running lights and projector lamps for the indicators too. The side profile gets chrome ORVMs, chrome door handles and new alloy wheels, the design of which seems to have been inspired by the alloys used on the Swift Sport sold in Europe. The rear of the car too got a decent dose of bling in the form of a chrome bar which stretches across the boot lid and also below the tail-lamps.
The interior too gets some new features like the dual tone seats, dual tone dashboard, leather wrapped gear knob and steering wheel. Even the door panels get a two-colour trim. It even gets a display screen fitted right below the air-conditioning vents in the centre of the dashboard for infotainment purposes.
Maruti Suzuki SX4 Sport:
The SX4 sport was designed to look like a hardcore racing version of the sedate road-going sedan. The car was given an extensive makeover on the exterior to clearly show that it was intended to be a track vehicle.
It gets a new body kit with a completely redesigned bumper at the front complete with an air dam, and inbuilt fog lamp housings. The side profile looked considerably lower thanks to the skirting and the rear end got a simple diffuser and a spoiler on the boot too. The whole car had been decked with a racing-blue color, with a black stripe on the hood which was further accentuated by a thin, yellow pin-stripe. The black vinyl continues on the side of the car too, in a Need for speed style graphic stripe, and the yellow pin-stripe too continues along the skirting. The brake disc callipers too get painted in a bright yellow shade.
The interior of the SX4 Sport was very sporty indeed, with everything at the bare minimum, and the racing seats with the four-point harnesses, only further accentuate this.
The only let down is that, the engine has not been upgraded to race-spec along with the body.
Maruti Suzuki EECO Piknik:
The Auto Expo also saw Maruti Suzuki’s Bread and Butter MUV, the EECO get pimped up and displayed in the form of a super-cool camper van, as the name suggests. The EECO Piknik sports redesigned front and rear bumpers, with integrated daytime running lights. The side profile immediately brings to attention, the multi-spoke diamond-cut alloy wheels and also the ‘EECO Piknik’ Decals stretching across the doors. The rear of the vehicle looks neat and tidy, with the exhaust tip being neatly integrated into the rear bumper.
Maruti Suzuki Has painted the EECO Piknik in a light Blue/Turquoise Shade and to further highlight the paint, they have blackened out the A, B and C-pillars and even tinted the glass in a light shade of Black. The interiors too are made in contrast to the exterior color scheme, and the seats, dashboard and door panels have been given a dual tone, Black and white upholstery.
Maruti Suzuki Omni Cafe:
The 2014 Auto Expo also saw one of the most boring cars, being turned into an attractive feature at the Maruti Suzuki booth. The Maruti Suzuki Omni Cafe is quite an Interesting Idea from Maruti Suzuki, which ensures that the spacious and rugged interior of the Omni is used properly. Painted in a yellow shade, the van gets alloy wheels and body graphics, apart from a new front bumper. The rear quarter panel of the car sports a decal which says, ‘OmniLicious Cafe’. Yes, Maruti Suzuki’s idea is to use the Omni Cafe as a Mobile Restaurant and for this to happen, Maruti Suzuki has provided quite a few accessories in the MUV.
The boot houses two refrigerators for cold storage, while a table above them provides space for a toaster and other accessories. The rear windows of the Omni, which are generally fixed, now open upwards and act as a counter. These modifications, we’re sure, will make the Omni a really cool mobile restaurant.
Maruti Suzuki Alto 800 Browzer:
The name Browzer sounds weird on a car at first listen, but when one takes a look at the car, the name is justified in a unique way. The small hatchback from Maruti Suzuki, the Alto 800 was already a very capable car and was best suited for city driving conditions. The browser edition is a notch better at going around the city, and the decals on the side of the car proves just that. The side profile of the car sports a huge decal, which is actually a map of a city, transmitting the message that it is perfect for ‘Browzing’ the city streets.
It is painted in a pleasant looking dual tone, turquoise and white color scheme. The wing mirrors, side skirts, bumper spoilers and roof rails are all turquoise in color, while the new 7-spoke alloy wheels have been painted white. This dual tone color scheme has been carried to the inside of the car as well but starts looking a liitle weird on the inside. It also gets a new dashboard mounted touch-screen navigation system.
Maruti Suzuki WagonR Xrest:
The WagonR Xrest is Maruti Suzuki’s take on the soft crossover segment in India, it is like the regular WagonR, but with grey colored plastic mouldings and cladding around the lower part of the whole car, and affixed onto the plastic mouldings are silver skid-guards, at the front, rear and sides, in order to protect the undercarriage of the vehicle over bad surfaces.
The car gets smoked headlamps with projectors inside them, and a new radiator grille as well. The Xrest is fitted with new alloy wheels as well as integrated fog lamp mounts in the front bumper. This is still at the concept stage, but if it does make it into production, it will compete with the two other soft crossovers on sale in the Indian market today, i.e, the Toyota Etios Cross and the Volkswagen Polo Cross.
Maruti Suzuki Ertiga Altair:
The Maruti Suzuki Booth had many new concept cars on display at the Auto Expo, but the most elegantly modified car had to be the, Ertiga Altair. It gets customized headlight clusters with projector lenses and LED daytime running lights on the front bumper. The popular MPV gets a full body kit with a rear spoiler, side skirts and bumper spoilers, apart from alloy wheels. The side profile of the car reveals a thick chrome strip in between the actual body and the body kit.
The interior of the Ertiga Altair gets dual-tone, chocolate and cream colored seats, dashboard and door panels as well. Towards the rear, the car gets new plastic reflectors on the hatch door.
Maruti Suzuki Ritz Jubilo:
The Ritz Jubilo has to be one of the sportiest concepts displayed by Maruti Suzuki at the Auto Expo. The car gets a new color on the body, which is, a grey-ish silver, and on the A, B and C-pillars and roof, it has been colored turquoise. It also has a few sporty turquoise decals at various places on the body. It gets a headlight cluster which is set in a matte-black enclosure with cut-outs available only for the headlamp and indicator.
The Ritz Jubilo looks excellent from the rear too, with its smoked taillights, gloss-black finish on the rear garnish and a new redesigned rear bumper. Other features on the Ritz Jubilo include new alloy wheels and a full body kit with side skirts and bumper spoilers.
The dual-tone color scheme gets carried on to the inside of the car as well, and the dashboard gets a new touch-screen infotainment system. The mechanicals as usual remain untouched and is as on the regular Ritz.
Maruti Suzuki Swift Volt:
The name given to this variant actually suggests that it is a battery powered version of the Swift, or a hybrid/plug-in version of the Swift, but it is neither of those, not even close. The Swift Volt is a regular Swift with a new body kit and some nice decals on it.
The Swift Volt sports a dual tone paint job, with the front half of the car painted white and the rear half painted black. The confluence of these two colors in the middle is accentuated by a chequered flag graphic design. The car also gets a red contrast colored roof.
It also gets features like tinted headlamp clusters with projector lamps, extensive body kit with low-set skirts and multi-spoke alloy wheels and dual exhaust pipes which are neatly integrated in the aggressively-styled bumper. The interior is similar to the road-going version, except that it has racing seats.
The Swift Volt is powered by the same 1.2-litre K-series engine which powers the current gen Swift.
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