Maruti Suzuki, India’s most successful and preferred automobile manufacturer has made an official confirmation of the launch of its first crossover S Cross on the 5th of August 2015. Maruti has created a special dealership known as Nexa through which the company will retail S-Cross and other upcoming premium cars. By the time S Cross launches, about 30-40 Nexa dealerships will be functional and the company aims at establishing 100 dealerships in next 6-8 months. The company will also start a reward point system called the ‘My Nexa’ which will reward and appreciate the loyal Maruti customers.
Maruti has designed S Cross by its name. It is more on the lines of a crossover than a compact SUV. On the front exterior, it has large two slate chrome grille which is surrounded by big headlamp on each side. The headlamps come with LED stripes which is the first for any Maruti vehicle. The soft curves on the front make it less muscular and rugged in looks than its competitors. It has plastic cladding all around with silver inserts. The rear portion gets dual toned bumper, along with tail lights around the boot. The B-pillar on the sides has black highlights to make it look tough and sturdy.
On the inside of the car, you go wow with all black interiors and hints of beige and silver on the dashboard. The instrument cluster is sporty with a larger driver information screen while there are audio and climate control buttons mounted on top of the steering wheel. Maruti has catered for enough space to keep those small bits and pieces which one carries while traveling.
The higher trims get driver seat adjustment as well as leather upholstery for the whole car. There is a 7-inch SmartPlay infotainment system with built-in navigation borrowed from Ciaz. The top trims will get reverse parking cameras while, for the lower models, there will be reverse parking sensors. Top end models will get keyless entry and engine start/stop button as well.
S Cross will only be launched in the diesel engine in the country. The 1.6-liter MJD diesel engine makes its entry into India through S Cross. This engine too comes from the Fiat's stable like the 1.3-liter engine which is fitted in a lot of Maruti cars. The 1.6-liter engine delivers the power of 118bhp and best in the class torque of 320Nm. It comes mated to a six-speed manual transmission and will be available in the higher trims.
The 1.3-liter engine is available in the lower trims. It has a power output of 88bhp and max torque of 200Nm. It will come mated to a five-speed manual transmission. There is no option of an automatic transmission and Maruti too like Hyundai doesn’t offer the AWD option. S-Cross will be available in four variants: Sigma, Delta, Zeta and Alpha. The 1.3-liter engine will be available in Sigma, rest three variants can choose between 1.3 liter or 1.6-liter engine.
Except for the base trim, rest all the variants of S Cross will get dual airbags. The base trim will only get driver side airbag. The top end spec gets rear disc brakes, reverse parking camera and HID headlights in addition to the other safety features. ABS will be standard across all the trims.
Maruti S Cross will be rivaling Renault Duster, Nissan Terrano, Ford EcoSport and the latest entrant Hyundai Creta. It will be priced somewhere around INR 8-INR 12 lacs.
