Shot Fired

The country’s largest carmaker becomes a barista. And it works!

- Kartik Ware

For an established car manufacturer to try new things is both difficult as well as essential. For Maruti Suzuki to show the way to the rest of the Indian automobile industry is a bit of a given. And by now it’s a proven fact that even if you stick an ‘SUV’ tag on a bicycle, chances are, it’ll sell very well in India. The preceding statements might seem a bit unconnected and may very well be exceedingly generalized, but they are three of the main reasons why the new S-Presso was brewed. Maruti Suzuki is pegging it as a mini-SUV, and it’s not a bad idea at all. If nothing else, our backs will be thankful.

To base something on the ultra-successful Alto makes a lot of sense; it’s the company’s bread-and-butter model, and a bit of coffee to go along with it makes for a satisfying breakfast. And on our roads, better suspension always helps in keeping the morning meal down. Visually, the S-Presso even manages to cram in SUV proportions into its demitasse-sized dimensions. However, it looks a bit awkward, especially in person, and someone remarking that it looked like the love child of a Mahindra and the Jeep Compass didn’t help. At the drive, there were a couple of exhibit cars that had dealer-level fitments like wheel-arch claddings, and those looked a lot better than stock, honestly. Thankfully, things don’t get worse after you see the S-Presso.