Maruti Ciaz first look

Maruti is currently working at fever pitch to get the new Ciaz ready for launch in India. Expected to be in showrooms some time before Diwali, the new SX4 replacement (revealed at the Auto Expo in February) is more attractive to look at, more luxuriously appointed and even more spacious on the inside. There's little doubt this car promises, at least on paper, to be one of the most accomplished Marutis yet. Thing is, it will have to be if it wants to be a big success; just look at some of the competition it is up against. The new Honda City, Hyundai Verna and the Volkswagen Vento are certainly no pushovers; far from it. And then there's the legacy of the previous SX4 this car has to overcome. The part crossover, part car sure got off to a good start, but apart from size and space, it had little to offer buyers looking for a car at this price. Sales suffered in later years. So, does the new Maruti Ciaz have what it takes to go head-to-head with the competition? Let's take a closer look. 

 

 

Often criticised for its bland and uninteresting designs, Suzuki seems to have done well with the new Ciaz. The almost street-spec car is attractive, well-proportioned and fresh; and the low crouching stance immediately gives it the look of something sporty. The design starts off at the low slung bumper, makes its way up the windshield in a clean sweep and then seamlessly flows down the rear of the car. 

 

The 4545mm overall length is considerably longer than that of the current 4500mm SX4, and it is longer than the new City too (the final production car, however, will be slightly shorter than the show car). What you also don't notice, unless you look closely at the car in profile, are the huge doors and the long wheelbase. However, the Ciaz does look very similar to the new Honda City from the rear – the treatment of the tail-lights and the chrome strip are quite similar looking. 

All the details will not get carried over onto the production car though. Some of the fussier chrome bits were, of course, put there to liven up the car on the show floor. You can see them in the chin and around the exhausts. What has worked regardless is that this car looks like a bonafide Suzuki at first glance – the big grille with the big 'S' in the centre working a treat.  

 

 

While there are no official pictures of the interiors available, it is possible to get a fair idea of what the insides will be like from Suzuki's sketch. Like the exteriors, the insides are clearly more grown up and mature. Suzuki has tried to capture a European vibe, with clean surfaces and crisp detailing taking precedence over aggressive styling details. And it seems to have worked. 

The cabin is divided into the lower and upper halves. Reflection-friendly black dominates the upper half, running all the way around along the doors, and a lighter shade of cream or tan has been used on the lower half to make the interiors look more spacious. What's interesting is that Suzuki's designers have used a strip of wood in between to liven up the facia and it has given it an upmarket feel. What remains to be seen is how well this will work in the flesh, but initial impressions are good. Another interesting bit is the centre console that looks very Volkswagen-like. The arrangement of the audio system and air-con controls is very VW-like and this feeling is enhanced due to the use of plenty of metallic highlights.  

 

What's also clear is that the Ciaz's interior will major on space. The new car is clearly more low slung than the current SX4, and that will mean some of the vertical space has been lost, but this car is more than likely to make up for it – just look at the space it has between the front and rear wheels.  

 

 

Suzuki engineers interviewed have claimed this new car has been set up to be both nice to drive and comfortable to sit in. Care has been taken, the company claims, to mount the suspension arms rigidly (this helps both ride and handling) and insiders claim the car drives with a good mix of stability and agility. Special attention has been paid to passengers sat in the back as well, with the ride tuned with engineers sitting in the rear rather than the front.

 

The Ciaz will be powered by a mixture of engines, some new, others updated. The mainstay of the range will continue to be Fiat's 90bhp 1.3 Multijet engine. Known as the DDIS in Maruti terminology, the engine will be tuned to improve the delay in acceleration experience at low speed due to the turbo. Maruti will also import a larger 1.6 diesel from Fiat for some of its other models sold in India like the S-cross. The Ciaz could, as a result, also get this larger and more powerful 118bhp engine which, like the 1.3, is also known to have a nice spike in power.  

The Ciaz is also likely to get a more powerful 100-plus-bhp version of Suzuki's K14 petrol engine. This engine is assembled here and, as a result, is more affordable than the 1.6 that currently powers the SX4. 

 

 

The Ciaz is likely to be half a size bigger than rivals like the current Honda City and Hyundai Verna. Still, Maruti is expected to price and specify it well. There is currently a perception that Indian customers aren’t too happy owning a Maruti or Suzuki-branded product above a certain price and the company is very keen to dispel that myth by delivering a cracking car at a good price. The Ciaz will go a long way in getting that started. 

 

Competitive pricing has always been a hallmark of successful Maruti cars and an expected starting price of Rs 7.5 lakh should help generate the requisite footfalls in showrooms. More focussed on the needs and requirements of Indian sedan buyers than the current car, nicer to look at with an interior that seems to be well in line with expectations as well, the Maruti Ciaz has what it takes to grab attention when it comes to showrooms somewhere around Diwali.  Here's one that promises to be something special.