Date:10/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/01/10/stories/2008011052430200.htm

Maruti unveils three concept cars

Kamal Narang

Small new concept: Mr Shinzo Nakanishi , MD, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, unveiling a new small concept car ’A Star’ in the Capital on Wednesday. The car is due to go into production at the Manesar plant later this year and is intended primarily for export to Europe.

Alka Kshirsagar

New Delhi, Jan 9 Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) unveiled three concept cars, the A-Star, the Splash and the D-segment Kizashi at the 9th Auto Expo Delhi 2008 on Wednesday, announcing its intent to be present in every segment of the global car market.

However, it was the designer A-Star that got the top billing pretty much on account of its bold styling.

Features

The concept A-Star, MSIL’s latest world strategic model offering, emerged as a bold brush with design, more specifically, Indian design, and fluorescent pink. The exterior features include a floating grill, tear-drop shaped daylight openings, headlamps that draw inspiration from an elephant’s eye, boomerang-shaped tail lamps and brake lights that come alive with an inviting pink glow, and alloy wheels embellished with a petal-pattern and pink embossing.

Making the most of the freedom that concept cars enjoy, the pink glow extends into the interior too surrounding the airplane-wing shaped, floating dash board and along the sides of the door.

The car which has a 996 cc, 3-cylinder engine, has been developed jointly with Suzuki Motor Corporation, and two young engineers at MSIL, Mr Rajesh Gogu and Mr Saurabh Singh, have worked on the design.

It is due to go into production at MSIL’s Manesar plant later this year and is intended primarily for export to Europe though it will also be launched in the Indian market. While the flamboyant features have aroused much interest, engineers are tight-lipped about how many of the design features will be retained in the final product.

The Splash, a compact car, has been launched in Europe, and is expected to be launched in India some time next year. The 2L Kizashi is positioned as an athletic, sporty and aggressive car and will also be launched in the US.