The Celerio is, as you can undoubtedly infer from the opening photo, a cheap city car in the familiar Suzuki style. It’s an Indian-made car built by Maruti in Manesar, and in Europe and other markets it will probably replace the Alto, or A-Star as it’s also known.
Specially for Europeans, the car will be fitted with a new low-emissions petrol engine that will benefit from start-stop tech – it puts out 85 g/km CO2 and has the option to be mated to a newly-created automated manual transmission.
It’s not the first time the car has been shown, though, as it actually made its debut at the Delhi Auto Expo last month.
If they really want to make a mark in Europe, and steal sales away from the Hyundai i10, the Peugeot 107, Citroen C1 and Toyota Aygo trio, plus the upcoming new Renault Twingo, then they really need to provide a high quality product, or make it dirt cheap to buy, in which case, it will face off against Dacia’s much roomier Sandero.
The Celerio is currently on display at the Geneva motor show and it should make its Indian market appearance in April, before arriving in Europe by the end of 2014.
By Andrei Nedelea
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