Maruti Baleno Crosses 8 Lakh Sales Milestone

Maruti Suzuki first launched the Baleno in India in 2015 and has enjoyed the taste of success for the premium hatchback car ever since its launch. That said, the second car in the company’s NEXA dealerships have quickly gained a band of followers and become the first true success story in the Indian space. Recently, the Maruti Baleno has crossed the 8 lakh sales milestone after half a decade of presence, marking the fastest premium hatchback to achieve that feat.

While we all know about the bad blood between the Maruti Baleno and Hyundai Elite i20, the former has been staying ahead of the competition and maintaining a healthy gap with the Elite i20 for quite some time now. For the month of September 2020, the Maruti Baleno has registered 19,433 takers, making it to the second spot in top 10 best-selling cars of India in the same month.

The Maruti Baleno is currently a petrol-only hatchback car. While it used to be available with both diesel and petrol burners, Maruti Suzuki has decided to exit the diesel cars market completely before the BS6 emission norms kick in. From that, the economical diesel motor was phased out from the Baleno’s lineup while the regular petrol mill joined hands with 1.2-litre SHVS unit.

As far as the power output is concerned, the 1.2-litre DualJet SHVS engine can punch out a maximum power of 89 BHP and 113 Nm of torque and comes mated to a 5-speed MT only. Whereas, the regular 1.2-litre gasoline burner can kick out 82 BHP of power and 113 Nm of peak torque. It is available with either a 5-speed MT or a CVT automatic option. The Maruti Baleno is also one of the best mileage cars in India with its fuel-efficiency figures standing at 23.87 kmpl (for the petrol MT version) and 19.56 kmpl (for the automatic model).

At present, the Maruti Baleno is on sale with the price starting from Rs 5.63 lakh for the base Sigma trim and Rs 8.96 lakh for the top-end model (ex-showroom, Delhi). Apart from the Hyundai i20, the Baleno also competes against the likes of Tata Altroz, Toyota Glanza, Honda Jazz and VW Polo in India.