Maruti Suzuki says festive demand looks strong as it launches the updated Baleno with Level 2 ADAS and ramps up monthly production.

Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer for marketing and sales at Maruti Suzuki India, said the company is currently producing around 16,500 units of the Baleno every month, and that the automaker is ready to push out more if its production team can keep up.

The new Baleno was launched on September 5 and comes with Level 2 Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, a first for the premium hatchback segment.

This includes features like automatic emergency braking, lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control and forward collision warning, built using a combination of radar and camera sensors.

Alongside the ADAS package, Maruti has also made six airbags standard across all Baleno variants, along with electronic stability control, ABS with EBD and a tyre pressure monitoring system.

The updated hatchback is priced from ₹6.09 lakh, ex-showroom Bengaluru. Banerjee said the Baleno currently makes up roughly one in every three premium hatchbacks sold in India, a segment that moves close to 50,000 units a month and is growing faster than the broader passenger vehicle industry.

He added that Maruti plans to extend ADAS technology to more models beyond the Baleno and the recently launched e Vitara.

On the demand outlook, Banerjee described the coming festive period, which includes Ganesh Chaturthi, Navratri and Diwali, as likely to be strong, though he cautioned against comparing it directly with last year since the previous festive stretch ran unusually long.

To support this demand, Maruti has commissioned two new production lines, each with a capacity of 2.5 lakh units, which are being ramped up gradually and are expected to add more meaningfully to monthly output over the next three to four months.

Banerjee also flagged rising commodity costs as an ongoing pressure point, noting that after absorbing part of the cost following recent GST changes, the company now has limited room left and may need to pass some of it on to customers.

Despite this, he said demand for Maruti’s entry-level vehicles remains strong.

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