Maruti Baleno first ‘Make in India and sell’ global Suzuki model

Maruti Suzuki India is all set to export the Baleno to its parent company, Suzuki Motor Corp in Japan. The Baleno, launched in New Delhi on October 26, will be the first ‘Make in India and sell’ global model for Maruti Suzuki.

Kenichi Ayukawa, managing director and CEO, said, “The Baleno is not only for India but for the global markets and will be exported to 100 countries from India.”
Initial monthly volumes of 5,000-6,000 units are on the radar as exports to Japan and Europe. These will be scaled up to 55,000 annually for the global markets by next year to accommodate export volumes for Latin America (Chile, Mexico, Uruguay), almost all of Europe barring East Europe, and South Asian countries.

The Baleno comes in petrol and diesel guises with the base VVT petrol Sigma model kicking off at an introductory price of Rs 4.99 lakh, with the CVT petrol variant costing Rs 6.76 lakh. The DDiS 190 diesel Sigma is priced at Rs 6.16 lakh with the top-end Alpha version costing Rs 8.11lakh (all prices ex-showroom, Delhi). Safety features such as dual airbags, ABS with EBD and seatbelt pretensioners come as standard across all variants. It will also be the first car to offer the Apple CarPlay in India.

The Baleno will rival the Honda Jazz and the Hyundai Elite i20.