Australia and New Zealand launch confirmed.
Maruti Suzuki has started shipping the all-new Suzuki Baleno to Australia and New Zealand, recently updated export data on Zauba reveals. While exports to Australia and New Zealand were expected since market launch of the Baleno for both these countries has been confirmed, what really comes as a surprise is that the Indian subsidiary has shipped the car to the United States as well.
To be specific, Maruti Suzuki has shipped three units of the Baleno to USA. All three units feature the company's K14B 1.4-litre petrol engine, just like those shipped to Australia and New Zealand. The logical speculation that can be made out of this is that the Baleno is probably being shipped to USA for some R&D work.
This is because Suzuki Motor of America and even Suzuki Canada, the company's USA and Canadian subsidiaries respectively, no longer sell automobiles. They sell only motorcycles and marine and power products. A comeback is unlikely to happen anytime soon, especially not with a B-segment hatchback. Mexico is the only North American market where Suzuki sells automobiles as well.
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The Suzuki Baleno exported to Australia and New Zealand are also equipped with manual and automatic transmissions. The local subsidiaries announced this year that the all-new Baleno will be launched in Australia in Q3 2016 and in New Zealand in H2 2016. Full specifications and pricing will be announced closer to launch. In Australia though, the company has confirmed that the car will be offered with the 1.0-litre BOOSTERJET turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine as well as a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment featuring Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration compatibility.
