When you think about Maruti, you think about the M800, you think about the Alto, the Zen, the Swift and so on. Now we already know that these were some of the most immensely successful cars from the Maruti stable. But what also comes to the fore, is that these cars were proper mass market cars that embodied no nonsense motoring to the fullest. The formula was pretty simple. ‘Keep it simple’. And that worked wonders for the brand as it sold a massive number of cars outselling all its competition.
While Maruti prided itself as being the mass market car manufacturer, it lost a few points when it came to the desirability factor. While everyone owned a Maruti, it wasn’t really desired for both as a brand and as a car. And Maruti did try to change that. The A-Star, the Ritz and the Kizashi (to quite an extent) were all attempts at making ‘non-Maruti’ like Maruti’s. Now what does that even mean? So all these three cars mentioned here, boasted a new design language that was unlike any other Maruti before and same goes for the interiors. It was Maruti Suzuki’ way of telling the world that they could do unconventional too. But did they work? Sadly no. When we laid our eyes on the Ignis for the first time in metal, it brought exactly the same thought in our heads. Riding on the massive success of the Vitara Brezza, the Ciaz and the Baleno, Maruti has once again tried the off-beat route with the new Ignis with which the Japanese giant aims to break a lot of stereotypes.
How you ask? Well for starters. Maruti has clearly mentioned that the new Ignis is aimed at the millennials. It’s for the younger breed of consumers who live off their smartphones in a virtual world. Even the design comes across as unique and trendy and even radical one might say, but it manages to stay within the ‘overdone’ barrier. Maruti has paid a lot of attention to the details too.
Unique proportions, dynamic body lines, bold wheel arches and those lovely projector headlamps, all come together to make the Ignis a very bold looking vehicle. Maruti has quelled the rumors of the Ignis being a compact SUV, what it is, is the first premium urban compact vehicle and will be the entry level offering from Nexa.
While the exteriors definitely break away from a conventional Maruti design, the interiors are even more radical. The Ignis gets a floating layered dashboard design which is cockpit inspired. You also get louvres which get carbon fibre treatment. Adding to the sporty touch are interior accents that match the body color and we must say looks really neat. The highlights though are the aircon control unit and the Smartphone Linkage Display Audio unit. Instead of the regular buttons, the aircon unit gets toggle switches which look and feel great. The screen in the center of the dash looks more like a tablet placed there. Needless to say, it gets Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and the rest of the connectivity options. All in all, the interiors are definitely going to catch a lot of attention and will be one of the highlights of the Ignis.
The engine and transmission are not as exciting as the interiors and the exteriors and you can read more about it here. But apart from that, the Ignis comes loaded with safety features and will get ABS and Airbags standard on all variants. And just like the Brezza, you will get loads of customizations options to choose from.
Targeted at the younger buyer, the Ignis comes across as a car which is distinguishing in a lot of parameters. And with Maruti positioning the car as the entry level offering from Nexa, we expect the prices to be extremely competitive. We think the Ignis will finally turn out to be an aspirational model in the Maruti stable and will earn the brand a lot of brownie points. Will it? Won’t it? A lot of questions will be answered on 13th Jan 2017!
