For 2019, the hot-selling Maruti Suzuki Baleno will arrive soon in an updated form. Confirming just that, Maruti has officially opened bookings for their premium hatchback. Interested customers can pay an amount of INR 11,000 and pre-book the new Baleno at their nearest NEXA dealership. What’s new about the hatchback? It will get some additional safety features which will make it comply with upcoming regulations, along with minor changes on the outside and within.
The updated 2019 Baleno will feature an updated fascia, where a different design for the air dam and fog lamp housing within the bumper will try and make things look more aggressive. It is being said that lower variants could now feature projector headlamps too. On the inside, we expect changes to be made to the upholstery and the updated Baleno will offer additional safety features like speed alert system, co-driver seat belt reminder and rear parking assist sensors. These are over and above the standard dual airbags, child seat restrain system (ISOFIX), Pre-tensioner and force limiter seat belts and ABS with EBD.
Along with these changes, expect the feature list to grow for each variant and perhaps a new wheel cap/alloy wheel design. This will be the premium hatchback’s first mid-life update since its launch. With these changes, we expect prices to go up marginally too. This will be in line with all other car makers, who have had to make changes to the price tag, to offset the cost of adding more equipment to make their cars pass through upcoming regulations. The Baleno’s rival, the Hyundai Elite i20 has been updated for this year too and gets rear parking sensors and a speed alert system as standard on all its variants. Prices have gone up marginally and mid-spec variants now get some more features. We’ll bring you all the updates when the 2019 Baleno comes out officially. Until then, stay tuned!