CarWale.com/AutoBild have posted images of a Maruti R3 caught totally undisguised. There is an image from every angle that reveal the car completely. What does Maruti have on its mind? Will it shock everyone with a Diwali release? Or will it bring it to Auto Expo 2012, the same stage where the concept avatar was unveiled two years ago?
IndianAutosBlog.com brought you a rendering of the car’s front end that matches the spyshots very closely. Last week we asked if the R3′s tight dimensions will be Achilles’ heel on its journey to topple the Innova as segment king.
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The biggest launch from Maruti Suzuki this year is going to be the Swift on August 17. The next biggest is going to be the R3 – an MPV to rival the Toyota Innova and Mahindra Xylo.
The R3 has been doing its test rounds in the northern parts of India for the last few months. We have many spyshots in our archives. We also have our very own rendering to predict what the MPV might look like.
We are also told that the R3 will use a different name on the market.
Now Carwale/AutoBild has presented their own rendering of the R3. Their rendering shows that the R3 will have a familiar face like the Swift or the Ritz. The rendering shows a familiar honeycomb grill and a steeply raked bonnet. The R3 concept presented at the Delhi Auto Expo 2010 had suicide doors but the production version will have conventional ones.
On the inside, we know for sure that the dashboard and many soft components are taken from the current Swift. Carwale is speculating that the R3 will get electric ORVMs, climate control, steering mounted controls, ABS and airbags as well.
The R3 will be available in petrol as well as diesel variants. The petrol will be the 4-cylinder K-series engine and the diesel would don 1.3-litre DDiS engine. Maruti is expected to price the R3 between 5-7 lakh rupees.
Will the R3 work for Maruti Suzuki?
The Toyota Innova has been the kingpin of the MPV market since the time it was launched. Never had a car dominated a segment so aggressively for such a long period of time. There were many attempts made by competitors and some of them were successful as well (such as the Xylo), but still no one really overtook the Innova in terms of sales.
The only time Innova showed a lack luster performance was the month Japan faced a natural calamity and that’s really saying something.
But when it comes to ‘domination’ Maruti Suzuki knows the tricks of the trade. The company has dominated the small car market like no other. So the largest Auto maker in India decided that it had enough from Japanese czar. Maruti Suzuki started working on the R3 MPV in late 2008. In 2010, Maruti Suzuki displayed a prototype of the vehicle at the Delhi Auto Expo.
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Team-BHP reader car_crazy1400 has posted spyshots of the Maruti R3′s rear. We’ve shown you a speculative rendering along with an interior snap on a previous occasion. The R3 is based on an existing platform accommodating seven people.
The dashboard is directly lifted from the new Swift. The ZDi trim shows a dual tone dashboard and components like door locks and gear lever are also shared with the new Swift.
A reader wrote to us last week stating Maruti’s new MPV is codenamed YL8 and is on test with a 1.3-liter VGT-equipped Multi-jet diesel engine. Aggressive prices helped Eeco earn a good reputation in the market. Maruti will be putting all the knowledge it gained selling the Eeco and Versa to use on the R3′s development.
Will the R3 arrive before the Auto Expo? Maruti needs some breathing space between the new Swift and the R3 as the former will be its focus to retain top position in the core of the Indian car market – the B and B+ segments.
Being a MPV and more importantly a Maruti, the R3 is will have low maintenance cost, good mileage, good knee and head room and long waiting periods. Sitting in a lower segment but offering a similar configuration, can R3 put an end to the Innova’s act?
At long last, we’ve seen the Maruti R3 through the form of spy shots posted a few weeks back. As any fan of Maruti Suzuki will know, the two-tone interiors are heavily inspired (or shall we say copied?) from the new Swift which is expected during Diwali.
The R3, though even with three rows of seats, is not the biggest and baddest MPV on the circuit. It will be smaller than Innova with compact petrol and diesel engines. The R3 will rely on Fiat power to take it places. The 1.3-liter Multijet engine with a VGT is the engine we’re expecting on this 7-9 lakh rupee car.
The production model will not be called R3. The R3 will boast of features like steering-mounted audio controls, CD player and power windows. Gear lever, door locks, steering wheel, dashboard, plastic door trim, arm rest, rear view mirror and the hand brake have been stolen from the new Swift’s inventory.
The transition from concept to production has been a tough journey for the R3 as the futuristic and funky styling has lost its way. The creativity and liveliness of the concept has been drowned and what we’re going to see is a MPV that blends the design of the new Swift, Kizashi’s grille and Ritz.
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If you have been hiding under a rock since this morning, you would have missed seeing the images of a family Maruti MPV posted on team-bhp.com doing the rounds on the internet. There’ no doubt in our minds of this car’ identity – it is the R3 which we reported on few days ago. The production model will not be branded R3, but until the commercial name surfaces, we’ll term it R3.
Left – Interior shot of the new Suzuki Swift; Right – Interior spy shot of Maruti R3
Studying the leaked image, we conclude that Maruti R3 has two-tone interiors and features like steering-mounted audio controls, CD player and power windows. The gear lever and door locks are picked up from the SX4 parts bin, but almost every other component visible in this photograph is lifted from the new Swift. The steering wheel, dashboard, plastic trim on the door, arm rest, rear view mirror, hand brake and possibly the seats come from the new Swift that debuts in India in the next eight weeks or so.
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Bloomberg reports that the three-row R3 MPV from Maruti Suzuki will be set afloat this year. Quoting a senior financial officer, the R3 targets customers of Innova and Xylo. IAB readers will know extra details on the Maruti R3 as we’ve posted on the vehicle during its early stages of development.
Here are some facts on the Maruti R3 IAB has reported previously -
1) The production model will be called something else.
2) It will based on an extended SX4 platform
3) Safety standards will not comply to that of developed markets. It is a vehicle for the emerging markets which could later be tweaked to be eligible for overseas markets with strict safety and emission norms in place.
4) Marginally smaller than the Innova, R3 will seat 6-7 people.
5) Expect it to come with the Swift’s 1.2 liter K-Series engine or the SX4’s 1.6 liter VVT engine. 1.2- or 1.6-liter VW diesel engines cannot be ruled out, but diesel engines from Fiat is a very realistic expectation.
6) The R3 is a FWD vehicle unlike the Innova or Xylo.
7) Futuristic tailgate and rear hinged doors will not appear on the production model. Concept to production transition should happen in a cost-conscious environment.
Seating options will be flexible. Maruti will offer captain seats on the top-end model with beige interiors.
9) Knowing Maruti well, one can expect LPG and CNG variants 12-18 months into the launch.
If the R3 isn’t out on the market by Diwali, we should see it at the Auto Expo next year.
Maruti Suzuki has confirmed development is taking place on two products. The first will be sold locally and the other will also be sold in overseas markets. I.V. Rao, Managing Executive Officer (engineering) of Maruti Suzuki – Our team of engineers at our R&D centre at Manesar is working on a model that will be launched globally. It will be made not just for the Indian market but also for [ Read More ]
