The Suzuki Splash will debut as Ritz in Indian dealerships by March-April 2009. The Ritz will be a B+ segment small hatchback, and is expected to be positioned by the company between its premium compact car A-star and Suzuki Swift.

Preview reports said that the hatchback will boast of ample space and will come powered by a KB family engine. The car maker has plans to roll out the car in two versions , namely a 1.2-litre petrol and a 1.3-litre common rail diesel (DDiS) engine.

Aimed at families who look for a car within a small budget, the Suzuki Ritz will likely replace the Wagon R model. Or, perhaps Maruti would decide to continue with the WagonR model as they offer it now in a dual-fuel mode, and perhaps there is a market for that.

The Suzuki Ritz is very modern to look at from the front and sides - from the back, not so much. There is a kink in the rear like someone has kicked it in - a bit like in the Suzuki A-Star. Not that anyone would mind in India. It is 3 cm shorter than the Suzuki Swift, but quite roomy inside.

Suzuki has incorporated all standard safety features starting from ABS, airbags, and brake assist. However, unlike the Splash for the global market, the Ritz planned for India would come minus a bit of the top-end features - not many here would mind. Further, options such as engine and transmission would also differ compared to the global Splash in the Ritz petrol models - the international Splash will have more powerful engines.

Expected to be priced around Rs 4-5 lakh, the Suzuki Ritz might hit dealerships in six different variants. These variants would mean that the car maker will roll out three petrol and three diesel cars. Both the diesel and petrol versions of the Suzuki Ritz will be mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. An automatic version of the Ritz is also being planned.

Maruti Suzuki is expected to roll out the Ritz in India conforming to Euro IV emission standards and it is being said that the car would come with a CO2 emission cap of 140 g/km.

All in all, you can be sure that the Suzuki Ritz is going to extremely popular in India when it launches, despite the slowdown and general reluctance to buys cars. Maruti small car launches never fail to work.