Adding more variety for the young urban man in its portfolio, country’s largest passenger carmaker Maruti Suzuki launched its latest compact crossover in the form of the Ignis during a gala event here in Delhi on Friday. Interestingly, the new car has been priced at Rs 4.59 Lakhs (ex-showroom Delhi) that makes this ‘Premium Urban Compact’ an extremely affordable offering for this segment.
So since we took a close look at the Ignis in the National Capital, here is everything that you need to know about it…
Funky looks
The design of the Ignis, which debuted at the 2016 Auto Expo in Delhi, is a radical departure from what we’ve seen on Maruti’s previous sets of wheels. A pair of LED headlights integrated on the massive hexa-mesh unigrille makes a bold first impression while a tall stance, beefy muscles on the sides and eloquent lines all over the body speak of an aggressive styling approach.
Some might call it a cooler-looking avatar of the Wagon R, but we’re sure it will bite into the market of something as small as the Renault Kwid and even as big as the Mahindra KUV100.
Both diesel and petrol options
The homegrown carmaker has played safe in terms of powertrain options by going for the tried-and-tested mills – the 1.2-litre K-series petrol engine and the Fiat-derived 1.3-litre diesel. While the former will churn out 83PS of max power and 113Nm of peak torque, the latter is good for 75PS and 190Nm.
In terms of the mileage, Maruti has claimed fuel efficiency figures as 26.8kmpl and 20.9kmpl for the diesel and petrol respectively.
Automatic optional
Both the engines will be mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox but the big talking point here is the addition of an AMT, especially on the diesel. With this, the Ignis could be the answer to India’s long-standing demand for an affordable automatic diesel hatch. The AMT will be available on the two mid-variants – Delta and Zeta; and in the same variants on the petrol too.
Safe and practical
The Ignis will boast of a plethora of segment-first features including a touchscreen infotainment that packs Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and MirrorLink. The infotainment system also doubles up as the display for navigation and the reverse camera. Other features like dual-tone exteriors and 15-inch all-black set of alloys impart the car an SUV-esque appeal in a bid to attract the millennial target audience.
In terms of safety, Maruti has equipped all variants of the Ignis with ABS, EBD and ISOFIX seat anchorage while it also complies with pedestrian safety norms, side impact and offset crash regulations.
Not too heavy on the pocket
The Maruti Suzuki Ignis is being offered in four variants – Sigma, Delta, Zeta and Alpha. As mentioned earlier, the base model comes with a competitive sticker price of Rs 4.59 Lakhs for the petrol, as the top-of-the-line Alpha diesel will set you back by Rs 7.80 Lakhs. Variant-wise pricing at the end.
Premium positioning
Despite the aggressive price tag, Maruti has positioned its latest car as a premium offering and will thus retail it through the Nexa dealerships. The bookings for the car had begun online and also at dealerships last month and is said to already carry a heavy waiting period of 8-10 weeks.
