This is India’s RAREST Maruti Baleno [Video]

One way to stand out from the crowd and mark your arrival is to have a unique set of wheels. Talking of unique cars, a few would even qualify to compete with the Maruti Suzuki Baleno Altura. This is probably the rarest Maruti car you can own in India. It could pack more bling quotient than a Kizashi! Well, here is an example that’s getting restored, on video.

Maruti Baleno Altura: Quick Look At It

The Altura is essentially a station wagon based on the Maruti Baleno. Yes, this is one of those good wagons that failed in India, just because the market wasn’t ready for them at the time when they went on sale. The Baleno itself wasn’t a huge success in terms of sales, but it had a defined set of niche takers. The Altura had a significantly narrower set of buyers. Finding a unit today can be super difficult.

It was first launched in 1999. Despite hostile market sentiments, Maruti Suzuki continued to sell the Baleno Altura till 2007. Another major reason for its failure was that the car had a lot of import content and finding parts wasn’t easy, and even worse, was expensive! Back in its day, the Altura was powered by a 1.6 naturally aspirated petrol engine that produced 95 hp. Quite appealing for its time.

The design is the key catch of the Altura. It looks like a regular Baleno from the front to near the B pillar. Beyond this, the styling makes a clean transition into that of an estate wagon. It looks good and even came with functional roof rails and 13-inch wheels. The interior too looked likeable, practical and comfortable.

Key features included a Maruti Kenwood cassette player, air conditioning, power windows etc. Back in its days, the AC of this car was appreciated much and was often compared to that of Mercedes Benz cars. Over its life cycle, MSIL gave the Altura both three-spoke and four-spoke steering wheels.

The rear seats are spacious and come with a central armrest. The boot offered generous room and had specialized storage compartments for various things including a small bucket. The car used to even come with a bucket! How ‘Adventure-oriented’ can that sound?!

More About This Particular Altura

This Altura was more of an impulsive buy for the host. The car was in a ‘pathetic’ condition at the time of acquisition. It had a lot of rat bites and oil leaks. It took him long hours of cleaning to make the interiors livable. The bodywork too had several bad patches. The AC, suspension and power steering were all damaged. The car has been in restoration for about two years now.

The host is currently doing these works in a phased manner. He has revamped the interior, installed a new audio player, and mended the AC. The wheels have been upsized to 17-inch units with low-profile tyres. He has added AUX lamps and plans to add fog lamps in the future.

The Fate Of Station Wagons In India

India has never been receptive to the station wagon way of life! In the early 2000s, there were a number of models available. You had the Corsa Sail, Baleno Altura, Rover Montego, Octavia Combi, Indigo Marina, Paleo Adventure, and a few other models. Manufacturers tried bringing in Estates much earlier. The Premier Padmini Safari was introduced in 1973. Even the Ambassador had a Wagon form on sale at some point in time.

But what happened to these? Died! Every one of them was rejected by Indians who were into anything but wagons! In 2003-2004, manufacturers were offering hefty price cuts and benefits on station wagons. Even with these in place, just 350 units of the body style were sold in the country- probably a bigger failure than the most unpopular sedans of the time!

Research reports show that premium pricing also contributed to the failure of these vehicles in the Indian market. Plus, people often used to compare these with the sedans they were based on. The Tata Indigo Marina for example, shared more with the Indica than with the Indigo. It was probably one of the most competitively priced sedans of its time.

Long story short, India rejected the body style, and even premium offerings that came much later, like the Volvo V90 Cross Country could not find success even when the XC90 continued to drive good numbers.