Suzuki Celerio revealed in India

The Suzuki Celerio is set to be key to Suzuki’s expansion into emerging markets and has already been revealed at New Delhi’s Auto Expo in India earlier this week; ahead of its European unveil at the Geneva Motor Show in March. The car has a small petrol engine, a basic spec sheet (to keep costs low), and is set to be one of the UK’s cheapest automatics.

The Suzuki Celerio looks to be a crucial model in new markets such as India, Thailand and Indonesia, where Suzuki has forecast sales will grow by 8.6 per cent and profits will increase by 24 per cent in the next 12 months.

It will also be an important new model in the UK, where Suzuki sales in 2013 reached 33,086 units – an increase of more than 8,200 cars over 2012, which represents growth of 33 per cent year-on-year. The company was also the second-fastest growing brand during 2013, meaning it now occupies the top 20 list of the UK’s biggest car manufacturers.

With the Celerio, the Suzuki is set to follow in the footsteps of Ford’s ‘One Ford’ global strategy, which aims to sell models worldwide, with little or no changes to specification – to lower costs, increase productivity and build on global sales.

Facts on the European-specification Suzuki Celerio have yet to be confirmed, but in India the car will be availabe as a cut-price automatic model – to appeal to buyers tired of driving a manual car (and having to continuously operate the clutch pedal) on congested city streets. The chances are, then, that the Celerio will also be available with an automatic gearbox here, and will be one of cheapest automatics on sale in the UK.

We would expect the European model to get a version of the Indian car’s 1.0-litre, 66bhp engine, which is capable of 65mpg and should also have extremely low CO2 emissions for cheaper road tax. Specification is set to include things like alloy wheels and a Bluetooth phone connection.

Rivals will include the Hyundai i10, Fiat Panda, and Skoda Citigo, which means the Suzuki should be priced from around £8,500. Orders are already being taken for the car in India, so we anticipate it will go on sale in the UK soon after its Geneva launch day.

For all the latest reviews on the current Suzuki range, visit the Carbuyer Suzuki reviews page.