Who does the Kizashi have to beat?

It's the newest beast in the very demanding entry level luxury segment and to satisfy the ego of these customers, the car has to score above average on all fronts like the looks, performance, space, comfort and of course utility. The Kizashi has just the right amount of all this built into it with the additional notch of aggression and sportiness. Check out!

Powered by a 2.4 litre petrol engine, namely the J24B engines from Suzuki's J-series of power-plants, the Kizashi is capable of churning out a solid 178PS at 6,500 rpm and generate 230Nm of torque at 4,000 rpm. Mated to either a super slick six-speed manual or a six-speed continuously variable transmission (CVT), the Kizashi promises to be quite the driver’s car. Even the interiors are well crafted and boast of simplicity and sheer neatness.

All this said and done about the Kizashi, this new cat beats and hinders onto a lot of middle segments players on various fronts and parameters. Let's start with the sales figures of the last month i.e. December, 2010 from the SIAM (Society of Automobile Manufacturers), for the two segments: the executive and the premium in which the Kizashi needs to out-perform to be a real success.

In the executive segment (4501-4700mm) the cars Chevrolet Optra (NB) and Cruze, Honda Civic, Skoda Laura and Octavia, Toyota Corolla and Volkswagen Jetta are the premium competitors. Their sales figures are as follows: a combined total of 659 cars for the Chevrolet Optra and Cruze, 180 for Honda Civic, 471 for Skoda Auto India, a mere 61 for Volkswagen Jetta and 1103 alone for the Toyota Corolla.

With the Kizashi, the designing team of Maruti Suzuki have kept its dimensions in good balance. The length, width and height of the car are around 4,650mm, 1820mm and 1480 mm respectively along with a wheelbase of 2700mm. Clearly, in terms of dimensions, the Kizashi is longer and wider than the Toyota Corolla and the Honda Civic, but its wheelbase is closer to the Civic's than the Corolla's.

Moving on to the premium segment (4701-5000mm) the cars Honda Accord with a sales figure of 119 cars, Hyundai Sonata with 11 and the Skoda Superb with 300 cars, the Kizashi is positioned between the Civic and the Corolla and the Accord and the Camry. Even on the rear bench space, the Kizashi totally pipes the Skoda Laura and is most probably at par with the Honda Accord on this account too.

On the parameters of engine, the Kizashi is powered with the motor from the Grand Vitara, only here it makes more power and is way more than what the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla summon and is closer to what the Honda Accord 2.4 and Toyota Camry produce.

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If we compare the Kizashi with its advanced safety and control features, the Kizashi comes packed to the hilt and will surely give a tough battle to its competitors including the Skoda Superb, Volkswagen Jetta, Skoda Laura and the Honda Accord.

On the whole, the Kizashi's underpinnings are engineered to match its sporty sedan attributes very well, making it a brilliant machine to drive and own. But it is still too early to predict whether Suzuki’s Maruti Suzuki Kizashi will prove to be a smash hit or a bummer and what makes it difficult to predict at the moment is that the Kizashi is pitted against more evolved and established brands in the mid-sized sedan segment. We hope Suzuki's dreams of entering the most contested segment of cars doesn't fail to see the sun.