What is this car doing in India?

There is no running away from the fact that three door (3 dr) body variants of ‘regular’ cars do not really make sense for Indian car market. Remember what happened to Maruti Zen Carbon & Steel? While these 3 dr variants may look undoubtedly cool and a tad sporty, they do not really make for as practical a family car as conventional 5 door hatches. India, where having more than one car in a house is considered a luxury, is certainly not ready for 3 door hatchbacks. This has been the only reason that car makers like Maruti Suzuki have shied away from introducing 3 door variants of their hot selling hatchbacks.

Now, a sighting today made me rub my eyes in disbelief and call my editor to let him know of my excitement on this discovery.  In front of me, basking in the sun was a current generation silver i20 3 dr. On coming back to my senses, the first thing I did was to have a look at the license plates. Instead of finding a red TC plate, I found the car to have the usual local black on white number plate. By now, my excitement had grew so much that I cursed my cheap Nokia, dashed back to my car and grabbed my digi cam. By the time I managed to take four pics of the car, a few good Samaritans came to enquire about my strange behaviour. This gave me a hint that it was time to bid farewell and I was quick to speed away in my car (unfortunately, a 5 door) from the spot. However, this simply meant that I could not check the badges that the car was sporting.

It may be noted that this version is on sale in many international markets is being offered with a total of seven engine options including three versions of popular 1248 cc dohc 16 valve “Kappa” engine, two 1396 cc diesel engines and two 1582 cc engines.

We wonder what this car is doing in India. Any idea?