Maruti Suzuki has been rumoured to be working on a new avatar of its much popular premium hatchback -- the Baleno -- for quite some time. The company has been testing the Baleno with Boosterjet engine on the Indian roads for a long time now and the car was caught on camera quite a few times. Coming here is another set of images of the Baleno, and this time it is the petrol SHVS model of the hatchback.
The prototype of what is believed to be the Baleno SHVS was spied undergoing testing in Mumbai by ThrustZone. While it is still not clear whether the SHVS will come in the 1.0 litre version of the Baleno or the 1.2 litre engine version of the hatchback, rumours suggest that this could be available in India too.
As for changes, the Baleno petrol hybrid is expected to get different alloys as well as rear disc brakes.
Suzuki currently sells the Baleno diesel with the SHVS hybrid system in European markets. In india, Maruti currently has Ciaz hybrid and Ertiga hybrid. However, the Baleno SHVS will be the first petrol car from Maruti Suzuki's stable to get the hybrid tech.
Currently, the Baleno is sold in India with 1.2-litre K-Series petrol engine, tuned to develop 83bhp and 115Nm of torque and the 1.3-litre DDiS diesel mill churns out 74bhp and 190Nm of torque. In the powerful avatar, the Baleno will come powered by a 1.0-litre Boosterjet engine, which would churn out close to 110bhp of power and 170Nm of peak torque. The Baleno Boosterjet version will be launched in the country by the end of this year.
