Maruti Suzuki on Wednesday launched its new hatchback A-Star in the Indian market and said it would in four years come out with its first indigenous car.The A-Star will be available at an introductory price ranging from Rs 347,000 to Rs 412,000.

Although Nano was expected to be in the market by now, but which could not fulfill it's promise, for more than one reasons. But that doesn't mean Maruti's new model A-Star will be free from competition, as this year and the year ahead is full of small cars in the Indian 4-wheeler market. i10 from Hyundai, Spark from Chevrolet, and the already present cars like Alto and Swift from Maruti itself.

"We have started the ground work to launch a car which is conceived, designed and developed fully in India," Maruti Suzuki India managing executive officer (engineering) I V Rao told PTI. The company is hopeful of rolling out the car in the next four years, he added. He however, declined to comment whether it would be a small car or a bigger one."We are discussing it internally," Rao said.

A-Star is Maruti's fifth global model which would be manufactured only in India. The company plans to sell 50,000 units in the domestic market, while targets to export 100,000 units.The car would be manufactured at Manesar production facility. A-Star will be powered by a 998cc K10B petrol engine and will be available in three variants in the domestic market. For exports, the company would manufacture A-Star in over 200 variants and sell to around 150 coutures across Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, Australia and Africa.

The company expects that A-Star would contribute half of its overall export target of 200,000 units by 2010-11.

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VEHICLE SUMMARY
Name	A-Star Model
Vxi Car Body Type	Hatchback Segment:A Segment
ENGINE SPECIFICATIONS
Displacement	998cc, 3 cyl, MPFi, KB-series
Engine Type	Petrol
Maximum Power	67 Bhp @ 6200 rpm
Maximum Torque	90 Nm @ 3500 rpm
DIMENSIONS
Length	3500 mm
Width	1600 mm
Height	1490 mm
OTHER SPECIFICATIONS
Seating Capacity	4
Tyre Size:155/80 R13	155/80 R13
Suspension	MacPherson Strut & Coil Springs
Turning Circle	4.50 mtrs.
Boot Space	129.00 ltrs.
Steering	Power
Brakes	Front Ventilated, Rear Disk
Gears	5
Manual Ground Clearance	170.00 mm
Fuel Tank	35
COMFORT AND CONVENIENCE
AC	AC Without Climate Control
Power Windows:	Yes
Central Locking	Manual
Remote Boot	Yes
Remote Fuel Filler	Yes
Rear Wiper	No
Rear Armrest	No
Streeing Adjustment (Rake/Reach)	Yes/No
Driver Seat Adjustment	Manual
Music System	CD Player with 2 Speakers
Leather Seats	No
Door Mirror	Driver Side Manual
Tinted Glass	No
Rear AC Vent	No
Folding Rear Seats	Yes
Sun Roof	No
Buttons/Controls on Steering	No
Auto Viper	No
Auto Headlamp	No

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The Eco-friendly car
With Delhi's pollution levels crossing those of pre-CNG days, this car may help a little in controlling it.
Emission from the A-Star not only complies with the Euro 3 (Bharat-3) norms that are operational in 13 Indian cities, including Delhi, but also geared to meet stringent emission norms that will be implemented across Europe in the coming years. The A-Stars CO2 emission will be even lower than 109 gm/km which we had envisaged earlier.


India's Euro 3 norms is 5 years behind those currently enforced in Europe, while Euro 4 norms that are enforced outside the 13 Indian cities are 10 years behind European benchmarks.

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