First five car & SUV launches of 2018: Maruti, Hyundai, Mahindra, Datsun and Ford have one each!

2018 will see a slew of new car and SUV launches, and also a big ticket event – the Auto Expo. Here are the first 5 car & SUV launches of the year.

Mahindra TUV300 Plus

Mahindra will kick off 2018 with the TUV300 Plus, an MUV based on the sub-4 meter TUV300 compact SUV. As its name indicates, it’ll be a larger version of the TUV300, with 3 rows of seats in 7, 8 and 9 seater capacities. The TUV300 Plus will be more powerful, with a 2.2 liter mHawk turbo diesel engine making 120 Bhp-280 Nm under the hood. A 6 speed manual gearbox will drive the rear wheels. Already test-launched in Trichy, the P4 variant of this MUV is priced at 9.46 lakhs. The national launch will happen later this month.

Datsun RediGO AMT

The Datsun RediGO will get an AMT option on the 1 liter engined version. The RediGO AMT will be one of the least priced automatic cars to be sold in India, sitting just above the Tata Nano AMT in terms of price and positioning. The RediGO AMT will undercut its brother from another mother – the Renault Kwid AMT. Prices of the RediGO AMT are likely to start from Rs. 3.65 lakhs. The car will be powered by the 1 liter-3 cylinder petrol engine with 67 Bhp-91 Nm on tap.

All-new Maruti Swift

Maruti will debut the all-new Swift at the 2018 Indian Auto Expo. The 3rd generation version of the super successful B-Segment hatchback has already gone into production. It’ll be based on the HEARTECT platform that marries light-weight, high tensile steel with new safety norms. ABS and airbags will be standard on all variants of the new Swift. The car will continue to be offered with  1.2 liter K-Series petrol (82 Bhp-112 Nm) and 1.3 liter Multijet turbo diesel (74 Bhp-190 Nm) engines, and 5 speed manual gearboxes. AMT options will be available on both the petrol and diesel engines. Prices are expected to start from Rs. 5 lakhs. .

Hyundai Santro

Hyundai will launch a brand new, tall-boy hatchback codenamed the AH2. It’s likely to wear the Santro badge, years after the second iteration of the car was discontinued from the Indian market. The all-new Santro will feature a new, 3 cylinder petrol engine with 5 speed manual and AMT options. In terms of price and positioning, the new Santro will replace the i10, and will be sandwiched between the Eon and Grand i10. Expect prices of the car to start from Rs. 3.5 lakhs, with an Auto Expo 2018 debut.

Ford Figo Cross

Ford will soon launch the butch looking version of the Figo – called the Figo Cross. The car will have more aggressive styling at the front and rear, and will also wear cladding on the sides. It’ll debut a brand new 1.2 liter-3 cylinder Dragon petrol engine with class-leading outputs of 95 Bhp-115 Nm, and a new 5 speed manual gearbox. The diesel motor on offer will be the tried and tested 1.5 liter TDCI mill, with 98.6 Bhp-205 Nm. It remains to be seen if the Figo Cross gets suspension and ground clearance tweaks. An Auto Expo debut is on the cards.