Suzuki’s most strategic world model the concept A-Star had its world premiere at the Auto Expo 2008 in New Delhi. Its for the first time that Suzuki has premiered a concept in India, but then the A-Star would be produced in India for the global market so there is the reason. The A-Star has many firsts to its credit, its for the first time that Maruti Suzuki’s India R&D division was involved in the development of any concept car. This goes on to show that Maruti Suzuki has acquired much inhouse R&D expertise to develop new models for the domestic and international markets at a lower cost. The production model would be greatly influenced by the concept A-Star’s design but would be practicalised for usability. The A-Star is an environmentally oriented concept and would be produced with a very efficient 1 litre petrol engine which would have great mileage and low emissions (<109g.km). The car would be initially produced only with this 1.0 litre 3 cylinder petrol unit but an efficient diesel motor is likely to be put into duty in times to come. The A-Star would be launched with manual transmission only and would be front wheel driven. The A-Star would in all likelyhood be one of Maruti’s bread and butter models in India and would compete with the likes of Chevrolet Spark and the Hyundai i10. The A-Star might just be the new Alto in India.

The A-Star’s exteriors are dynamic to day the least. The front view is very unique and grabs your eyeballs with its floating look grille and translucent crossmember in which the logo illuminates with the headlights. Ornate headlamps and fog lamps add to the sci-fi concept look. The overall shape of the car is very slippery and is likely to be very aerodynamic. Following Suzuki’s new design theme the A-Star has a high metal to glass ratio, a teardrop roofline and flared wheel arches. The interios are in a concept stage as well and are funky to say the least. There is a wing like floating intrument panel with a central display with LCD. There is a ‘Start’ button to ignite the engine, a cool feature to have in a sporty hatch like this. How many of these ultra cool featured make it to the production version is something we have to wait and see.

The A-Star production car would be made exclusively at Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant primarily to benefit from lower cost of production, the biggest influencer in Maruti Suzuki’s increased investment into the Indian operations. That their biggest international market is India is also another major factor. Production of the car is expected to start by October 2008 for the domestic market and December 2008 for exports to Europe. The A-Star would be launched in other international markets gradually.

PICTURES OF THE A-STAR CONCEPT FROM THE NEW DELHI AUTO EXPO 2008