Suzuki has unveiled its first car co-designed with Indian unit Maruti. The launch of the A-Star concept, a preview of the next Alto targeted at Indian and European buyers, was one of a series of announcements by car giants ahead of Delhi’s Auto Expo show starting on Thursday.
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“Maruti is ready to play a global role in Suzuki’s global operations,” managing director Shinzo Nakanishi told Agence France Press (AFP).
Suzuki said it would launch one new model in India a year in a bid to keep its stranglehold on the market.
Nakanishi told AFP the Alto, whose production will start in October and be only in India, combines “distinctly European design with Indian cultural cues” such as Indian paisley fabric.
The A-segment one-litre model will be the fifth global car from Suzuki after the Swift, Grand Vitara, SX4 and Splash (which is shared with GM Europe’s Opel/Vauxhall brands who sell it as the Agila).
Nakanishi said the A-star is the first Suzuki “concept car with which designers from Maruti Suzuki India’s research division have been involved from the beginning.”
