Maruti Estilo

Whats with Maruti anyway?
First they confuse the world with their car nomenclatures and now they are confusing them with their new designs!!

Once upon a time they launched the Maruti 1000. After the 800, it was a logical move and a near correct nomenclature for a 900-odd cc car. They they changed its engine & called it Esteem...but waitaminnit...the same car abroad was called the Swift.
Then they launch the Baleno..which incidentally is known as Esteem worldwide!
Then they launch the Swift, which is actually the same as the one abroad, BUT now it has in its portfolio an Esteem which is actually the Swift, Baleno which is actually the Esteem and Swift which has its older sibling still in production! Yikes!!!

Then there is the Zen. Now she is known abroad as the Alto. In India, they have another car called Alto which is basically a redesigned & souped up 800. Yesterday, they renamed it the "Estilo", calling it the new "Zen". AAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGHHHH! Why can't they just let the car names be what they really are!!

Coming to designs, the Zen/Alto/Now-Estilo is a fantasic example of confusion...the first one looked cute in their self-propagated "jelly-bean" design. Then they came up with a "Classic/Retro" version where they essentially covered all the lamp holes (visible patch up..) and added round lamps in front and back and pasted a pseudo-retro grill in front...basically made the car look so atrocious that noone would buy it!

Then suddenly they had an export surplus...they export the same jelly bean as a 2-door hatch and it wasn't selling. The market was flooded by this piece as a "limited edition" sports version that would never be made again...and they expected people to fall for it!! It was called "Metal" or something...correct me if I'm wrong about that.

Now they have the Estilo, which by the way, looks like a redeigned now-defunct Daewoo Matiz! That's not all about their design inspirations...the new-look wagon-R looks like theold Hyundai Santro (Bug-Eyes version) that people hated so much...I guess they have been trying for 6 years to dethrone Santro (originally called Atos but thats another story!), and have finally decided that the best way is to copy the design!!! Matiz was a best seller and so is Santro, so can't really say that their hopes are unjustified...

They are now discontinuing the Baleno/ Esteem, replacing it with the SX-7. My only prayer..I hope they call it the SX-7, release it as a hatch that she really is..(add-on boots kill the design..not to mention those atrocious patch-on tail-lamps!) and then maybe offer the boot version as an option.

When this happens, I will finally agree that Indian car designs & sensibilities are on the same page as the rest of the world...