In the build up to the Delhi Auto Expo, Maruti Suzuki announced that it will showcase a concept SUV, along the lines of the EcoSport or Duster at the Auto show. To heighten the anticipation, tightly cropped pictures of the Concept's design features are displayed on the Expo section of the Maruti website.
Up front, the Concept sports individual rectangular grilles stacked together along with robot-eyed lamps. Teaser images of its Star-shaped alloys and L-Shaped tail lights are also part of the flash slideshow.
The SUV could act as the successor to the famous Jimny/Gypsy as the grille is reminiscent of the current model. Besides Gypsy/Jimny, there are no compact SUVs in its range. Leveraging on the Gypsy's reliability and cult status is the best possible move Maruti can make with the production version. We guess the product will be ready by Auto Expo 2014.
Maruti could use Swift parts to manufacture the vehicle. The Ertiga MPV on view at the Expo follows the same route. The cost benefits and shortened development time through component sharing is the most competent trick in the book. For instance Volkswagen group will save billions of dollars in development cost by using a common parts bin for almost 40 of its models in the next seven years.
Details are pretty sketchy, but we need not wait too long until a spy shot surfaces. IAB will bring you high quality images and video from the display area late next week, so sit tight!
[Image Source - MarutiSuzuki.com]
