Maruti Suzuki unveils its luxury sporty sedan Kizashi

Bangalore, Feb 3 (PTI) Maruti Suzuki India limited, thecountry''s largest car manufacturer today unveiled its muchawaited luxurious and sorty sedan, "Kizashi", the company''sfirst offering in upper end of Indian market.

"Offering luxury, style and sporty performance, Kizashi ismanfactured at Suzuki Motor Corporation''s Sagara plant inJapan and is imported into India as a Completely Built-up Unit(CBU). After its launch in Japan in late 2009, Kizashi wasintroduced in the US", Marketing Executive Officer of thefirm told reporters here.

Kizashi will be available in India in two variants:Manual Transmission (MT) and Continuous Variable Transmission(CVT).

"The launch of Kizashi is mainly to cater to the demand ofloyal Maruti customers who wanted a car in this segment. Itwas done mainly to retain our customers in the Maruti fold",he said.

The premiem segment accounts for 2.5 per cent of theIndian car market, Rao said.

Powered by a 2.4 litre DOHC J-Series engine that ensurespotent performance while offering excellent fuel efficiency of12.53 kmpl (CVT) AND 12.45 (kmpl (6-speed MT), Kizashi will beavailable "Snow White Pearl", "Super Black Pearl" and "PremiumSilver Metallic" colours.

Kizashi has been tested in some of the most extremeconditions, like cold-weather trails in Minnesota andhot-weather trials in Death Valley, USA, Rao said.

Responding to a question, he said "at present, the wholecar is imported from Japan. Depending upon the response itreceives in the Indian market, we will think of moving fromCBU to CKD (Completely Knocked Down kits) here".

The MT variant is priced at Rs 16.78 lakh while CVTvariant is priced at Rs 17.78 lakh. The car can be booked withan initial deposit of Rs 50,000 at any Maruti Suzuki Dealerand delveries will begin in March 2011.