It was back in February this year when Maruti Suzuki introduced the updated Ignis range. Apart from a tweaked design, the hatchback also received a BS6-compliant (Bharat Stage 6) badge. Now, two of the variants have gotten dearer – Zeta MT and Zeta AMT. Why? Maruti Suzuki has added the 7.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system in both of them. What the price difference? Both cost approximately Rs 9,000 more than before. In other words, you’d pay Rs 5.98 lakh for Zeta MT and Rs 6.45 lakh for Zeta MT.

The addition of the SmartPlay infotainment system also ropes in additional features such as support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, live traffic information via an App and voice command system. Maruti Suzuki fits the same infotainment system in all its cars, right from the Alto to the upcoming, BS6-ready S-Cross.

The Ignis is presently the only Maruti Suzuki car sold from the Nexa range of dealerships which has the option of an AMT (Automated Manual Transmission). With Maruti Suzuki looking at expanding its portfolio of CNG-powered cars, the hatchback might become the first from the Nexa channel to come with a factory-fitted CNG kit.

Presently, the quirky-looking car comes with a peppy 1.2-litre petrol engine which churns out 82bhp/113Nm. You can have it with a 5-speed manual transmission or a 5-speed AMT. It doesn’t matter which of two you pick as Maruti Suzuki claims a mileage of 20.89kmpl for both. Ignis gets the same powertrain options as the Swift and the Dzire.

In India, the Maruti Suzuki Ignis rivals the likes of the Hyundai Grand i10, Ford Freestyle and the Mahindra KUV100. The Ignis is also one of the five models which have helped the Nexa brand of dealerships cross 1.1 million sales in five years. That’s an average annual sales of over 220,000 units.