Maruti Suzuki Ignis, Ignis Nexa, Ignis India, Ignis India price
Maruti Suzuki IgnisSuzuki

The decks have been cleared for the most anticipated launches of the New Year 2017 --the Ignis. Ignis, a compact crossover from the house of Maruti Suzuki, will break its cover on Friday, January 13 at a glittering event.

Did you know Maruti Suzuki Ignis has an emoji on Twitter?

Ignis is Maruti's first 2017 rollout and is expected to be followed by new models of Swift, Swift Dzire and the Jimny. To be sold through Nexa, the destination for premium cars of Maruti, the car is already open for online bookings. The response is said to be overwhelming as the waiting period has gone up to three months even before the launch.

The auto lovers in India got a glimpse of Ignis last year at the Auto Expo and the Nexa model has been in the spotlight since then. Though Ignis will be sold through the Nexa, the crossover is expected to be priced aggressively to take on its rivals in its segment as well as the front runners in the hatchback segment. The word around the internet is, Maruti Suzuki is likely to peg Ignis at a starting price of Rs 5.5 lakh.

Ignis will be available in four variants - Sigma, Delta, Zeta and Alpha. To be offered in both petrol and diesel options, the new Maruti vehicle will come with 1.2-litre petrol and 1.3-litre diesel mills. While the petrol engine is expected to churn out a power output of 84bhp and 115Nm, the diesel mill is expected to generate 74bhp of power and 190Nm peak torque. Both engines will be mated to a five-speed manual. An automated manual transmission (AMT) will be offered in the petrol Delta and Zeta variants.

On the safety front, expect Ignis to pack ABS with EBD and dual front airbags as standard. The crossover will come in monotone and dual tone colours.