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Maruti Suzuki’s new concept at Auto Expo will be a SUV-like hatchback

Maruti Suzuki Future-S is essentially a cross-over between a hatchback and an SUV, a top company official has confirmed

February 05, 2018 / 02:09 PM IST
 
 
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At the upcoming Auto Expo 2018 India’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki, will unveil its concept Future-S, a cross-over between a hatchback and an SUV, a top company official has confirmed.

This new concept will be positioned below the best-selling SUV Vitara Brezza making it one of the smallest vehicle of its kind in the line-up. The company will gauge the response of viewers at the Expo and decide on whether it should go for commercial production.

Speaking to Moneycontrol News C V Raman, Executive Director (engineering), Maruti Suzuki said, “We believe that going forward SUV kind of vehicles are increasing in demand and we have a line up where we have the S-Cross, Brezza just under 4 meters but we believe that going forward SUV taste is going to be liked by customers. So looking at that we have made a concept vehicle which is going to be less than 4 meters and less than Vitara Brezza size and we have let our designers experiment on the design of the vehicle and they have come out with a product which has an upright stance, upright A-pillar.”

The Delhi-based company had teased an image of the concept car a few days ago. The A-pillar (the one to which the windshield is embedded) is the most upright amongst all Maruti Suzuki cars but on par with the XBee, a crossover launched in Japan last month. The Future-S will also feature the thickest C-Pillar yet seen on Maruti cars.

“So the concept is that of high seating position very clear visibility of the road having and upright stance the body to make it look like SUVish hatch. It is an experimentation of less than 4 meters. So that has been the challenge of proportion and layout for the designers”, added Raman.

Automotive companies are increasingly finding it hard to resist the urge of channeling their future car designs towards sports utility vehicles as demand grows unabated.

The only SUV in that category is the Mahindra KUV 100, a small five-door, five-seater vehicle, launched by the Mumbai-based company in 2016. Besides there is the Kwid, Renault’s entry model, which with its raised stance and SUV-type appeal, attracted many customers.

“As requirements keep changing and segments evolving the lines (defining a car) keep getting blurred”, added Raman.

Last financial year the SUV sales went through the roof clocking sales of 7.61 lakh, growing at 30 percent compared to the previous year. Within that the compact SUV segment with models like Vitara Brezza, Ford EcoSport, Mahindra TUV 300 and Tata Motors Nexon, recorded best growth amongst all segments.

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Swaraj Baggonkar
Swaraj Baggonkar
first published: Jan 24, 2018 12:37 pm

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