Suzuki Baleno, same old story?

colm_mcm

Hot on the heels of the unstoppable Celerio, Suzuki have added another new model to its lineup of cars,
The common theme among them is that they're not cars that tackle the class leaders head-on, but cater to a more price-conscious part of the market - the corner of the market that was usually mopped up by the likes of Kia and Hyundai - both of whom have set their sights (and their prices) higher of late.
Suzuki was never a massive player in the Irish market, sure there always a few Vitaras and Jimnys knocking around the place, and the new Vitara seems to be keeping the dealers busy with around 500 registered so far this year, this one model accounting for 74% of the brand's car sales so far this year (End of April). The Celerio, Swift and SX4 all failing to hit the 100 sales mark.
The Suzuki dealer network is pretty small, with only around 15 dealers in Ireland, averaged out, that's not a lot of cars per dealer.
Many new Suzukis share showroom space with other brands, so garages aren't relying on one brand to pay the bills, a slightly oddball, aged range of cars will never have them queuing up to take one home.

Enter the new Baleno, a name borrowed from a very forgettable 90s Suzuki, the old car was well equipped for the time, it was cheap, but it hardly even registered in the minds of the Irish car buying public, it was replaced by the equally humdrum Liana, a reasonably priced car which could be seen weekly, understeering its way around the Top Gear test track with a celebrity on board.
The Liana was then discontinued - In its place came the rather odd SX4, a tall crossover style hatchback co-developed with Fiat offering optional 4WD, and curiously a saloon version (which was also tall, but didn't offer 4WD) which proved moderately popular with older buyers who suddenly found the options for very small saloons had suddenly become very limited.

Back to now though, and the 2016 model, which was revealed last Autumn, built in India - and went on sale this week. Suzuki have wisely gone with the mainstream hatchback option this time, It's clearly a new, modern design - but as is the case with all modern Suzukis it's very conservative and a bit lardy looking. Size wise, it's a little bigger than a Swift, but not nearly as big as a Golf or Focus. 'In-between' cars never seem to do that well, but perhaps they can fill a niche in the market for those who find superminis too small and small family hatches too big.
I suspect this wasn't the design brief though. Europe is slowly becoming less relevant as part of the global market, and Suzuki has a very strong presence in developing markets (hence the Celerio). This car is competing elsewhere with models we will never see here in Europe.
One thing you couldn't argue with is the level of standard equipment that comes with the car. HID headlights with LED daytime running lights are standard across the range, 16 inch alloys, fogs, aircon, front/side/curtain airbags,tyre pressure monitors and deadlocks are all on the basic model - one step up gives you a touchscreen, adaptive cruise control, rear electric windows,

There's a new turbocharged 1.0 3-pot engine with the rather snazzy name ' BoostJet' it puts out 111bhp.
there is also the option of a "Dualjet" normally aspirated 90bhp 1242cc engine. I would expect this is a Fiat sourced engine given the capacity. The lower powered 1.2 engine costs €500 less than the 1.0 Turbo but is only available with the higher trim level. There is a 6 speed auto offered with the 1.0 engine as well.

Money-wise, you're talking between €18-22.5k depending on how much stuff you want.
Will it sell? Probably not, but then Suzuki Ireland are only hoping to shift 250 of them this year so that's under 20 per dealer.

Would i buy one? Not in a fit!

ba_barabus

Link to any more pictures? The standard equipment on the Vitara is excellent however I think the looks are all wrong. The interior quality is sub ASX and it's expensive compared to a Duster

colm_mcm

ba_barabus

I think I'll pass. I'd rather go Duster or new Tipo.

bazz26

I heard the Nissan Bluebird is making a comeback too. :pac:

Bigus

Jimmy McGill in Better call Saul preferred the cup holders in his battered Baleno to the ones in his new C class Merc, in fact the yellow Baleno is the star of that show .

colm_mcm

his was an "Esteem" though

Bigus

colm_mcm wrote: »

his was an "Esteem" though

Definitely not low esteem

coolbeans

colm_mcm wrote: »

Hot on the heels of the unstoppable Celerio, Suzuki have added another new model to its lineup of cars,
The common theme among them is that they're not cars that tackle the class leaders head-on, but cater to a more price-conscious part of the market - the corner of the market that was usually mopped up by the likes of Kia and Hyundai - both of whom have set their sights (and their prices) higher of late.
Suzuki was never a massive player in the Irish market, sure there always a few Vitaras and Jimnys knocking around the place, and the new Vitara seems to be keeping the dealers busy with around 500 registered so far this year, this one model accounting for 74% of the brand's car sales so far this year (End of April). The Celerio, Swift and SX4 all failing to hit the 100 sales mark.
The Suzuki dealer network is pretty small, with only around 15 dealers in Ireland, averaged out, that's not a lot of cars per dealer.
Many new Suzukis share showroom space with other brands, so garages aren't relying on one brand to pay the bills, a slightly oddball, aged range of cars will never have them queuing up to take one home.

Enter the new Baleno, a name borrowed from a very forgettable 90s Suzuki, the old car was well equipped for the time, it was cheap, but it hardly even registered in the minds of the Irish car buying public, it was replaced by the equally humdrum Liana, a reasonably priced car which could be seen weekly, understeering its way around the Top Gear test track with a celebrity on board.
The Liana was then discontinued - In its place came the rather odd SX4, a tall crossover style hatchback co-developed with Fiat offering optional 4WD, and curiously a saloon version (which was also tall, but didn't offer 4WD) which proved moderately popular with older buyers who suddenly found the options for very small saloons had suddenly become very limited.

Back to now though, and the 2016 model, which was revealed last Autumn, built in India - and went on sale this week. Suzuki have wisely gone with the mainstream hatchback option this time, It's clearly a new, modern design - but as is the case with all modern Suzukis it's very conservative and a bit lardy looking. Size wise, it's a little bigger than a Swift, but not nearly as big as a Golf or Focus. 'In-between' cars never seem to do that well, but perhaps they can fill a niche in the market for those who find superminis too small and small family hatches too big.
I suspect this wasn't the design brief though. Europe is slowly becoming less relevant as part of the global market, and Suzuki has a very strong presence in developing markets (hence the Celerio). This car is competing elsewhere with models we will never see here in Europe.
One thing you couldn't argue with is the level of standard equipment that comes with the car. HID headlights with LED daytime running lights are standard across the range, 16 inch alloys, fogs, aircon, front/side/curtain airbags,tyre pressure monitors and deadlocks are all on the basic model - one step up gives you a touchscreen, adaptive cruise control, rear electric windows,

There's a new turbocharged 1.0 3-pot engine with the rather snazzy name ' BoostJet' it puts out 111bhp.
there is also the option of a "Dualjet" normally aspirated 90bhp 1242cc engine. I would expect this is a Fiat sourced engine given the capacity. The lower powered 1.2 engine costs 500 less than the 1.0 Turbo but is only available with the higher trim level. There is a 6 speed auto offered with the 1.0 engine as well.

Money-wise, you're talking between 18-22.5k depending on how much stuff you want.
Will it sell? Probably not, but then Suzuki Ireland are only hoping to shift 250 of them this year so that's under 20 per dealer.

Would i buy one? Not in a fit!

Looks like the spawn of Mini Paceman and Citroen DS4 with shades of CityRover in the profile.

bear1

At first glance, the interior and the rear don't seem too bad but then you see the side of it and it's bloody ugly.
20k for that is idiotic as well.
If they instead beefed it up and made it meaner looking and put a 2.0 turbo under the bonnet then I think it would be appealing as a hot hatch.

Henry Ford III

Looks like one of those Korean things - probably most like Kim Jong Un - ugly!