2018 Maruti Suzuki Ciaz facelift: Booking and launch details of Honda City rival are out

• Maruti Suzuki will launch the 2018 Ciaz in August
• Bookings will be open by the end of July
• 2018 Ciaz to get a new and bigger capacity petrol engine
• New model to go up against Honda City, Volkswagen Verna and Toyota Yaris

Maruti Suzuki, India's largest carmaker has lined up an array of facelifts for the upcoming festive season. The company is reportedly planning to launch the new versions of Ertiga and WagonR while the product launch campaign is expected to begin with the new Ciaz.

2018 Maruti Suzuki Ciaz was spotted during testing on multiple occasions this year though there was no clarity over the launch date. A report in Times of India now claims that Maruti Suzuki will launch the new Ciaz in August.

Prospective buyers will be able to place orders for the 2018 model by the end of July, the report adds.

Apart from the obvious changes in its styling, the new Ciaz is likely to get a new petrol engine. The mill in question is the 1.5-liter unit that debuted with the 2018 Suzuki Ertiga at the Indonesia International Motor Show in April 2018.

The K-Series family of engine will develop 103bhp of power at 6,000rpm and 138 Nm of torque at 4,400rpm. Compared to the current 1.4-liter mill in the Ciaz that develops 91bhp and 130Nm, the new engine will produce 12bhp of power and 8Nm of torque extra.

The Ciaz petrol model has been criticised for underpowered engine and hence, the new engine is expected to resolve the issue. Reports also claim that Maruti Suzuki may introduce SHVS mild hybrid system with the new petrol engine.

The diesel engine, on the other hand, will be the tried and tested 1,248cc unit. The DDis unit is already equipped with the mild-hybrid system producing 89bhp at 4,000rpm and 200Nm of torque at 1,750rpm.

How will 2018 Maruti Suzuki Ciaz facelift look like?

There is no clarity on the new look of the updated Ciaz since most of the units were heavily camouflaged. Having said that, Suzuki's Chinese partnership venture Changan Suzuki sells the Ciaz as Alivio in its home country.

The Alivio got a makeover recently and Maruti Suzuki Ciaz may also follow identical design upgrade. In that case, the Ciaz will get new single-piece front grille in line with some Audi models. New round shaped fog lamp in black bezels will come with the integrated strip running lamps. The front bumper will be reworked to house these changes.

The side profile of the sedan will remain the same barring newly designed alloy wheels. At the rear, the bumper may get a dual-tone finish with chrome touches in addition to the re-arrangements inside tail lamps.