The new Maruti Ciaz sedan, expected to arrive in our showrooms some time later this year, will replace the current Maruti SX4. The new car will bring with it a new focus; one on rear seat comfort and a luxury car-like cabin. It will also be much better equipped and more spacious than the outgoing SX4 and as a recent preview of the car has shown, will be well equipped to take on competition like the new Honda City. Suzuki has especially laid emphasis on making the rear seat of the upcoming Ciaz comfortable keeping in mind markets like India and China where the car will be sold.
Engineers normally sit in the driver's seat, but here, they sat in the back bench to fine-tune and improve ride quality for rear occupants. Other rear seat specific changes include rigid mounting of the suspension components. These allowed engineers to employ slightly softer springs for a better, more cushioned ride.
The Ciaz is expected to have plenty of rear legroom as well. With a length of over 4545mm, the Ciaz will be longer than the new Honda City. Also, its long wheelbase will facilitate good legroom at the rear. Hisanori Matsushima, chief designer of the Ciaz concept, said, “the back seat will have ample space to relax and Suzuki wants customers to enjoy its large internal size”.
Apart from the spacious cabin, the interior is expected to have a European influence and will make use of clean surfaces and metallic accents rather than just bold styling bits. Suzuki’s sketch helps us deduce that the dual-tone dashboard will consist of a wooden belt dividing the dark top section and the beige bottom half of the dash.
A large percentage of car owners in this segment are chauffer driven and this focus on the rear seat should work well when Maruti comes to market with its new sedan.
Aditya Bengali