Spied: Maruti Suzuki YRA hatchback testing
Maruti Suzuki have been quietly working on an all-new hatchback, codenamed YRA. The YRA will sit above the Swift and will be a premium hatchback compared to the latter. While images of this hatchback have been doing the rounds from quite some time, these are by far the well-defined photos which have surfaced on the web and showcase the car's design.
Like the Swift, the YRA too looks European in design and has a front fascia similar to the one we have seen in the Swift. It has it own set of LED daytime running lamps right where the air dam starts. If you remember, sales of the older i20 soared after Hyundai added these DRLs. Suzuki will also be offering them as standard though it remains to be seen if the Indian production version gets these or not. The side profile is similar to the new i20 and the YRA even gets blacked out C-pillars. The ORVMs are mounted on the door while the handles have been done in chrome. At the rear, the design is very similar to the Elite i20 while the tail lamps are reminiscent of the VW Polo. The boot space, an Achilles heel with Marutis, could well be sorted with the spy shot showcasing it to be probably at par with the Elite i20's storage volume.
The spy shots also show a glimpse of the interiors. Going by the images, it is safe to assume that Maruti may offer a touchscreen display, similar to one in the Ciaz. The dash seems to be finished with a chrome outline. There will also be climate control and other features that you can expect from a premium hatchback. While it is not visible from the dashboard image, post the Swift crash test results, expect Suzuki to keep atleast ABS and a driver airbag standard in India.
The engines could very well be iterations of the current 1.3 DDiS and the 1.2l petrol. However with Suzuki having recently introduced the Dualjet technology in the UK-specific Swift, it is likely that the YRA will also get this.
Suzuki will showcase the YRA at one of the motorshows next year, with the launch happening sometime late in 2015 or early 2016 at the expo.
Image credits: Motoroctane