Indian Autos blog

The Latest offering from Suzuki’s stable – The Maruti A-star, re-badged as Pixo in Euro markets and Alto in others, has bagged its first Car Of The Year Award from Zig Wheels.

The A-star will be sold in markets such as Australia later in 2009 and will be named as ‘Alto’. The Alto we know of is the different model, in the previous generation car in the Alto lineup, which turns out to be India’s best selling car as of now.

Chief judge Adil Jal Darukhanawala was impressed by the well designed small cars, which is frugal, simple, reliable and efficient. The judges were very enthusiastic about the A-Star’s all new 1.0-litre engine.

“The car doesn’t break any new ground in absolute power and torque, but in its actual delivery in terms of acceleration from standstill, in-gear driveability and top speed it is the proverbial David with the wherewithal to massacre many Goliaths.”

The Maruti Suzuki A-Star was launched yesterday, and at first sight, it looks very stylish and appeals better to me compared to the Wagon R, Estilo and the Alto. Small cars from Maruti Suzuki go down very well with Indian customers, and with this car, Maruti Suzuki expects to bounce back and get their volumes back to where they were. The A-Star was initially scheduled to be launched last month,  [ Read More ]

Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India Limited unveiled the much-awaited, World Strategic Model, A-star here today.

Powered by the new, state-of-the-art, light weight, 998cc K10B petrol engine, A-star is the best in class fuel-efficient car with a mileage of 19.59 kilometers per litre, as tested by ARAI, Pune, country’s premier automotive research agency.

Built on a brand new platform, the A-star is an excellent city car with best in class turning radius, power, flat torque (minimum gearshifts) and performance.

A-star is truly a green car with no compromise. The newest model meets the European ELV norms, which implies that 85 per cent of the car is recyclable. In addition, it is free from hazardous materials like Lead, Cadmium, Mercury and Chromium.

The A-star was launched in the city by Mr. RC Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki India Limited and other senior company officials.

The A-star has been designed keeping in mind aspirations of the urban economy-conscious customers, who seek best-in-class fuel efficiency,lower emission, and high quality and high performance alongwith style. It also takes the engine technology in India to the next level. A-star is the most relevant car that addresses the needs of today’s customers be it India or any other part of the world.

A few months ago, we brought you spy pictures of the upcoming Suzuki Kizashi testing in the U.S, which you can view here. It looks like the Suzuki Kizashi could well be the next vehicle from Maruti after the upcoming A-Star and the Splash in India. Maruti is taking bold decisions after the immense success of its latest models-The Swift and the SX4. We expect the A-Star and the Splash  [ Read More ]

You would have seen the New Alto a.k.a. A-Star in pictures released from the Paris Motor Show, but now you can watch the Alto from various views and angles through our video feature. Features like separate tachometer, integrated stereo, iPod-USB connectivity, and interior views have been revealed in this video. It seems to be a pleasure to drive this thing, the smiling driver’s face says it all. Curious? Just watch  [ Read More ]

The satin was dropped, and the Nissan Pixo stood there, no where to hide. It’s cousin, the A-Star (a.k.a. Alto) was launched hours back in the same environment and the PIXO should have felt a bit out of place. Let me explain why. The PIXO is Nissan’s small car which some refer to as the next-gen Micra. We really don’t care about that. What we felt was the PIXO should  [ Read More ]

The 2009 Suzuki Alto is finally here. The road-going version of the A-Star had its wraps taken off at the Paris Motorshow earlier today. The leading aspects of this compact car are its incredibly low fuel consumption figures and ultra-low emissions which comfortably surpasses Euro 5 norms. Drag coefficient of 0.30 translates into slighter fuel consumption and quicker acceleration times while its modern design and styling should make cars like  [ Read More ]

Maruti is striving to push its cars to the next level, a height to which Indian cars can have pleasant experiences on foreign soil as well. The policy of World class cars for India is taking shape as reports claim Maruti Suzuki has decided to set up a Research and Development (R&D) centre at Manesar, near Gurgaon which will be in all angles, similar to Suzuki Motor Corporation’s (SMC) research  [ Read More ]