Maruti Suzuki has launched yet another small car, the A-Star. The  price range for this hatch is between Rs. 3,47,000 to Rs .4,12,000.

It is available in three variants (LXi, VXi and ZXi) in the domestic market, whereas the export version will have over 200 variants. The car is powered by a three cylinder 998cc K10B petrol engine which produces 67ps @ 6200 rpm and torque of 90nm @ 3500 rpm, and is paired with a five speed manual tranny.

I’ve yet to take this one out for a test drive, but on first impressions, I thought it looked somewhat ugly ! Secondly, from some  angles, especially the front, it bears a close resemblance to the Hyundai i10. The back looks simply awful !!

I wonder why Maruti seems hell bent on cannibalising their existing small car fleet.. Felt the same way when they first launched the Alto and then again when they stopped production of the Alto 1.1 litre and kept the Alto 800 cc. By doing this, they tried to save the Wagon R 1.1 litre which not too many people were buying, but at the cost of the Maruti 800, which people were. All this thanks to their strategy of having offerings and customers at graded price points.

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