Maruti’s concept electric SUV to be premiered at Auto Expo
While the car is a concept and showcases MSI’s way forward on developing electric cars, the carmaker said that with Futuro-e, it is going away from the conventional design language and it is experimenting to bring a complete new offering for customers.
As automakers are steadily lining up their products in the electric vehicle category, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Tuesday unveiled the first look of its coupe-style electric concept SUV Futuro-e, set to be premiered at the upcoming Auto Expo in February.
While the car is a concept and showcases MSI’s way forward on developing electric cars, the carmaker said that with Futuro-e, it is going away from the conventional design language and it is experimenting to bring a complete new offering for customers.
Speaking to The Indian Express, CV Raman, senior ED (engineering) at MSI, said that Futuro-e is only a concept and while it “showcases our design ability, it will also show our progression and us crossing certain boundaries.”
Though Maruti’s Vitara Brezza and S-Cross follow the SUV design language, Futuro-e will be a coupe style SUV, which is currently not in its portfolio.
Even as the company will showcase its new design concept for electric SUV amidst an ongoing slowdown in demand for auto industry, Raman said, “While there is slowdown in the market, as auto manufacturers, we need to excite the market and show our confidence in the Indian market.”
On the choice of developing an SUV as a concept, Raman said that SUV is the fastest growing segment in India and is the preferred choice of customers today.
“It is increasingly increasing its pie. We have accepted that trend and while we have conventional SUV design models, we are now going for different kind of SUV which is futuristic … It is a significant departure from the mainstream SUV architecture and is expected to raise the design bar of Utility Vehicles in India,” he added.
Stating that Futuro-e is the company’s vision for future e-mobility, MSI said that the concept is a combination of design and technology and represents the kind of proportions that it can achieve in the future.
Source : indianexpress
