Few Budget Cars not for Sale anymore: Customers looking for Budget Cars are left with less options

When Indian car buyer, plans to buy a new car, previously had multiple options and these cars were not only fun to drive more importantly they were under Rs.10 lakh, which was more or less affordable to the customers.

Few of the cars, which are now not for sale anymore are

-Baleno RS from Maruti Suzuki

-Figo and Freestyle from Ford

-Stylish Abarth Punto from Fiat

-Tiago JTP from Tata

These cars were no less than gems, but unfortunately, they had to disappear from Indian car scene.

Baleno RS

The Baleno RS was launched in the year, 2017, it was first turbo petrol from Maruti Suzuki. This vehicle is touted as a "hot hatch" by Maruti, the Baleno RS came with a 102hp, 1.0 litre turbo petrol "Boosterjet" Engine, which churned out a decent 150Nm of torque mat3ed to a five speed manual.

The Baleno RS was a slow seller, the major reason, as to why sales did not pick up was lower fuel economy figure and the price was bit higher, when compared to the standard Baleno, which sold like hotcakes. Maruti in order to increase the sales, it had even taken few steps such as time to time, it reduced the price of the vehicle more than one, until the model's demise, it was priced at a difference of just around Rs. 31,000 to the Standard Baleno's Alpha variant. Maruti is known to be high volume player, hence it witnessed no merit to keep the Baleno RS on sale.

TATA Tiago JTP

The Tiago JTP and Tigor JTP were born out of Tata Motors Joint Venture with Jayem Automotives Ovt ltd (known as JT Special Vehicles or JTSV). The performance-oriented JTP twins were modified iterations of standard models, thus keeping three basic aspects in mind, thus enhancing engine output adopting a sportier design theme inside and out, and making he cars handle and sound better.

In 2020, in the month of June, both the companies diluted the joint venture, following which JTSV became a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors. The slow-selling JTP twins were eventually not upgraded to BS6 norms.

Volkswagen Polo GT TSI

The Polo GT TSI went on sale in the year, 2013, thus replacing the dull polo 1.6 from 2010. The 1.2 litre turo petrol hatch equipped with the DSG gearbox was an instant hit and gathered its own fan following despite its Rs. 10 lakh plus price tag. It did a 0-100 kph spring in a respectable 11.3 seconds.

The German hot hatch soldiered on and even received a new 1.0 TSI engine as an upgrade to BS6 norms. However, a 12 year production run for essentially the same car meant sales were dwindling and that resulted in the end of the GT TSI and the entire polos line-up in the Indian market.

Fiat Abarth Punto

Fiat introduced the performance -oriented Punto Abarth back in the year, 2015, it was an instand hit among the enthusiast community. The car had a 1.4 litre turbo petrol, which is an absolute firecracker and it went from 0 to 100 around 9.5 seconds. This coupled with hydraulic steering and an able chassis made the Abarth Punto a hoot to drive, especially around the corners.

Ford Figo Diesel -freestyle diesel

Ford's second -gen Figo went on sale in the year 2015 and the high-riding Freestyle joined the lineup in the year, 2018. While both the models were available in petrol as well as diesel engine options, it was the latter, which suited the car's ride and handling capabilities more. This diesel engine was a 1.5 lite unit good for just 100hp and 215Nm unit, but it performed well than its petrol counterpart.