India’s premium hatchback Maruti Suzuki Baleno reached over 6 lakh customers in record time of just 44 months.
On this occassion, Shashank Srivastava, Executive Director, Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki India Limited thanked the customers by saying, “Baleno is India’s most preferred premium hatchback. Continuous alignment with customer’s expectations and desires along with periodic upgrades in terms of technology, have kept Baleno in the lead in customer’s decision making. The recently introduced Next Generation Smart Hybrid on Baleno, resonates with customer’s need for contemporary technology. The milestone of 6 Lakh unit cumulative sales in a record time of just 44 months clearly reflects Baleno’s popularity. We thank our customers for their continued support that has helped Baleno to create this industry benchmark of fastest 6 lakh sales milestone.”
Maruti Suzuki recently launched an updated version of the Baleno which features the brand’s Smart Hybrid technology. The Indo-Japanese car manufacturer says that the new engine will reduce emissions and have customers making fewer trips to fuel stations. In fact, Baleno is the first BS VI-compliant car and the only Smart Hybrid in its segment. The existing petrol variants are also BS VI-compliant.
The new engine on offer is a 1.2-litre Dualjet, Dual VVT BS-VI unit that produces 90 PS at 6,000 rpm and 113 Nm at 4,400 rpm. This new Smart Hybrid technology variant comes with a lithium-ion battery which is used for assisting acceleration and performance, without the compromise of reduced fuel-efficiency. The variant will also see the inclusion of Start/Stop function when idle, which has already been seen in a few recent launches. Additionally, the batteries charge when the vehicle decelerates, which only adds to the efficiency of the vehicle. Maruti Suzuki are also claiming 23.87 km for every litre of fuel consumed by this engine.
Story: Koustubh Mukherjee
