Maruti Suzuki Ciaz to Debut in September; Bookings, Price Details
Maruti Suzuki posted 26.9 percent growth in its total sales in August 2014.Reuters

Maruti Suzuki's upcoming sedan has been spied testing extensively in India with launch of the car expected around the festive season this year. The latest is a set of fresh images of the top-end variant of Ciaz, revealing the inside and outside details of the car.

Going by the recent spied images of Ciaz posted by the folks at Gaadi Waadi, the top end version of the Maruti's next C-segment offering is likely to accommodate alloy wheels, engine start button, rear AC vents and front armrest along with dual tone black and beige interiors and leather seats.

Maruti Ciaz, a sedan based on the Suzuki Authentics concept car was first seen at 2014 Delhi Auto Expo and since then the car has made numerous appearances on the web through spy images and reports. The Suzuki had also showcased a near production version of Ciaz dubbed Alivio at the Beijing Auto Show 2014.

Although the repeated sightings of the car being tested in the country are positive signs of the nearing launch of Ciaz, the maker of the vehicle is decisively mum on the matter. However, the rumour mills are of the opinion that the car would make its India entry during the festive season this year, possibly by August.

Ciaz is a trump card of Maruti in the domestic sedan segment, where the company's outgoing model SX4 faced appalling failure. Under the hood, Maruti's new C-segment offering, Ciaz is likely to pack the same 1.3 liter Multijet diesel or 1.4 liter K Series petrol engine of Ertiga and is expected to carry some of the features of both SX4 and Ertiga.

Hyundai Verna, Honda City and Volkswagen Vento are the main rivals of Maruti Ciaz in the sub-continent.

Maruti is likely to price the upcoming sedan in the ₹7.2 lakh to ₹10.5 lakh range and the vehicle is expected to come with safety features like Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) with Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD).

It is also said that the Maruti is preparing the new Ciaz with CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) and contrary to the previous reports, the company has reportedly no plans to launch Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) technology in this sedan.

Meanwhile, Maruti launched CNG version of its Celerio in India with a price tag of ₹4.68 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). Under the hood, the new Celerio model packs 1.0 liter K series petrol engine, which is re-tuned to produce 68 ps of power at 6,000 rpm and 90 Nm of torque at 3,500 rpm in petrol mode and 59 ps of power and 78 Nm of torque in CNG mode. The engine is coupled to a five-speed manual transmission, promising a fuel economy of 31.79km/kg and is available only in Vxi trim.