Unveiled at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show in September and having made its global sales debut a few days ago in India, the new Suzuki Baleno premium hatchback now visiting 2015 Tokyo Motor Show, a biennial automotive extravaganza.
Set to woo prospective buyers in Japan, the Baleno has entered production at company’s plant in India which will remain as the only production base for the whole world. To make its way to over 100 markets including Japan when exports commence in early 2016, the premium hatchback rival receives a sophisticated design and state of the art technology.
The first premium hatchback from Suzuki, the Baleno will take on the likes of VW Polo, Honda Jazz and Hyundai Elite i20. The Suzuki Baleno is being presented in four trims to namely Sigma, Delta, Zeta and Alpha.
Exports to Japan are likely to start in early 2016.The international versions would be powered by a 1.0-litre three-cylinder BoosterJet turbocharged petrol motor and a 1.2 liter K Series petrol engine, possibly with SHVS mild hybrid technology. The latter is capable of 84.3 PS power and 115Nm torque under the hood of the India-spec model (BoosterJet is not available in India as of now). Both manual and CVT will be on offer.
The Indian Baleno also receives a 1.3 liter DDiS diesel engine offering 75 PS power and 190 Nm torque mated to a 5 speed manual transmission. While the petrol engine offers 21.4 kmpl, the diesel engine is capable of fuel efficiency of 27.39 kmpl.
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The Suzuki Baleno premium hatchback is being offered with Apple CarPlay enabled touchscreen infotainment system and other exciting features such as multi information speedometer, automatic climate control, reverse parking camera, projector lights and UV reduction glasses. Safety features for export variants would include multiple airbags, ABS with EBD, ESP, BA and even autonomous emergency braking.
