Maruti Launches Celerio With Auto Gears
The car, which also comes in a manual gears version, competes with the Hyundai i10
India’s largest passenger carmaker Maruti Suzuki on Thursday launched its much-awaited small car Celerio Auto Gear. The hatchback, available in a petrol version only, is the automatic replacement for Maruti’s own A-Star model, and comes to the market in a bid to challenge Hyundai’s i10.
The Celerio auto-gears version starts at Rs 4.29 lakh while the manual-gears version is slightly cheaper beginning at Rs 3.9 lakh.
“Having an automatic gear transmission was a no-brainer, but people opt for manual transmission partly due to costs and fuel efficiency,” said Maruti Suzuki India managing director and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa. “With Celerio, we have resolved all issues. I am sure Celerio is worth the wait… an example of knowledge responding to need.”
The Celerio offers more in terms of audio controls for steering, Bluetooth connectivity, more room in terms of wider track lengths and a wheelbase to match the Swift. The company claims that the Celerio will clock an average of 23.1 kmph.
(This story appears in the 21 February, 2014 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
