The Maruti Suzuki Baleno RS hot hatchback has officially been launched in India. The Baleno RS has been priced at ₹ 8.69 lakh and is available exclusively through the Nexa outlets. Available as a single variant model, the new Baleno RS gets a 1.0 litre BoosterJet petrol engine mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. The turbo petrol Baleno RS makes 101 bhp and 150 Nm of peak torque. There is no automatic variant on offer yet neither an AMT nor a CVT.
The Maruti Suzuki Baleno has been one of the most popular cars from the Indo-Japnese carmaker. In fact, from the 1st of April 2016 - 31st Jan 2017 Maruti has sold 1.38 lakh units of the Baleno premium hatchback. This alone tells us that a more powerful Baleno RS will surely manage to woo a large number of buyers.
The Baleno RS gets a slightly altered exterior look as compared to the standard Baleno. It has a new front mesh grille with a chrome bezel and a larger and sportier front bumper too. The front bumper also gets a lip spoiler/splitter, which has been finished in satin black. The car also gets a satin black side skirt and a set of 16-inch wheels that are identical to the standard car but painted in a shade of black. The rear bumper is also completely different with the lower half reminding us of the sporty Japanese hatchbacks from the late 90s and 2000s. The Baleno RS also gets a new and slightly larger spoiler as compared to the standard car. All four wheels get disc brakes - 14 inch at the front and 13 inch at the rear. And as the weight has increased by 60 kg, Maruti has tuned to suspension for better handling as well.
The new Baleno RS does not get any updates to the interior though. You still get the all-black interior package with the brushed aluminium centre console. The large touchscreen in the centre comes with built-in navigation and Apple CarPlay.
The Baleno RS will go up against the likes of sporty hatchbacks like the Volkswagen Polo GT TSI, Ford Figo 1.5 and the Abarth Punto Evo. The car will be manufactured at Suzuki's new plant in Gujarat, which has already commenced the production of the regular Baleno. In fact, over 1000 units of the Baleno hatchback have already rolled out of the facility.
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