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The A-Star from the Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) stable is touted to be the most important launch after the Alto for the company. Vikram Gour gets behind the wheel of this crazy little thing to bring you the details...
The credentials are high with the A-Star. Born in India, conceptualized and designed with major inputs from Indian designers, yet built for the world, this car is destined for stardom. It's a sea change in terms of thought, for, till now Indian customers were constantly bombarded with the tag line that a certain car model has been "Altered for Indian conditions".
The A-Star spells the end of that era, for now we have a car that is going to be solely built in India, yet sold across the globe. Not only that, Nissan is set to pick up 50,000 units and sell them under their brand name! It's a change for the good, and even in grim times of an economic slowdown, such news is bound to get the patriotism genes kicking in, for we can feel nothing but proud about such a car. The stellar looking concept car, going by the same name was unveiled at the Auto Expo in Delhi earlier this year. Since then it has been a wait and watch game which included a preview of the global car at the Paris Motor Show in October 2008.
Incidentally, for the global market this car will be known as the Alto, but in India it will go by its concept name-A-Star, which, I feel suits us just fine.
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I'm the baby, you gotta love me!
So, after Paris we knew what the car looked like, and to make a long story short, the A-Star looks like a baby from head on. You just want to walk up and pinch its cheeks (if it had them). Those large headlamps and the round-ish finish to the front all make it look very cute. It's bound to be a hit with the women for sure! The little bonnet rakes up sharply, ala MSIL Swift style, to merge with the line of the swooped back windshield. Unfortunately MSIL didn't keep the stellar lights or the front grille from the A-Star concept car, which had a sportier overtone, but opted for a cuter 'bug' look.
When looked at from the side, the A-Star clearly retains some design elements from the concept. The most prominent is the shape of the front and rear passenger door including the cut of the windows. The rear notch is also a prominent design carried over from the concept as the similarities are very clear in the C pillar of both cars.
The rear is rather different from the concept, and in a vague way it actually manages to remind me of the present Alto. It's more butch, and better rounded, plus it looks more solid, but the design seems to lead back to the Alto for inspiration.
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The interiors again have design elements taken forward from the A-star concept car, but have been toned down to suit this category as well as to make better business sense. After all, I highly doubt anyone of us expected to find that awesome 'Start' button located on the gearshift in the production model. (Alright, I did, and Maruti, I still beg you too do that!)
The interiors are governed by a sporty theme. Single form seats, a wedge shaped dash that houses the A/C controls as well as the music player. But what takes the prize on interior design is the position and design of the tachometer. Done up in true racing style, the tacho is a separate unit all together that peeps over at the driver from the right corner of the dash. It's retro and in your face design, which is sort of the USP that MSIL is going with anyway.
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