Better late than never! Maruti seems to have finally realized this and is planning a mid life Facelift for its SX-4 sedan. The camouflaged car seen in the Pictures is the SX-4 Facelift which was spotted testing in Gujrat.
The Facelifted car has altered headlamps and Bumpers. The trademark Maruit Suzuki honeycomb grille has been replaced by horizontal slates and a chrome strip has been added above the grille. The changes are mostly cosmetic and most of them are to the front of the car. The rear looks almost similar to the present car save for the bumper and thus will be difficult to differentiate.
The powertrain will remain the same. The SX-4 is powered by 1.6 L petrol motor which develops 104 PS power and 145Nm of torque and 1.3 L Diesel Multijet engine which develops 90 PS and 200 Nm of torque. The VXi variant will also be available in CNG.
The interiors are also expected to remain the same as Maruti has no plans to make any changes or upgrades to the interiors. So overall the Facelift can be only be called as a mild facelift as there are no substantial changes to the sheet metal, interiors or powertrain.
Maruti has always found it difficult to sell premium cars unlike the small cars where it is a market leader by a huge margin. The Grand Vitara is struggling to sell in decent numbers, The Kizashi is almost dead and The SX-4 is selling way less than its rivals such as the Hyundai Verna, Skoda Rapid and Nisssan Sunny.
This problem could be attributed to the lack of premium tag associated with the Maruti Brand but it is also a fact that Maruti has neglected the SX-4 specially when the sales figures were crumbling day by day. Now the question is, will this minor Facelift help Maruti to atleast be competitive if not offer a serious competition to its rivals?
Image Source: Rush Lane
