Here come the upgraded Altis, Dzire and Civic

A few days into the New Year and news about more car updates is doing the rounds.

This time the upgrades are happening in the sedan segment as three top carmakers -- Honda, Toyota and Maruti -- have new plans in wake of toughening competition.

Here is what the new Toyota Corolla Altis Maruti Swift Dzire and Honda Civic are likely to offer...

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Toyota Corolla Altis

Toyota Kirloskar Motors' recently launched sedan Etios has intensified competition in the sedan market with its performance and pricing.

To further lure more customers to Toyota showrooms the company is speculated to launch a face-lifted Corolla Altis.

Recently, the spy shots of the same were seen splashed on a leading car magazine's Web site.

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The new face-lifted Altis is likely to have re-styled tail-lights and a vertically aligned chin. A wider grille to compliment the chin is likely to be one of the new features.

Under the hood the new Altis is expected to stick to the 1.8-litre petrol motor and the 1.4-litre common rail diesel unit.

But speculation regarding a 1.6-litre, 120bhp petrol engine being introduced are pretty high. This will mean increased competition in the segment and more choice for the buyers.

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Maruti Swift Dzire

The company's hatchback bestseller Swift is all set to get an upgrade soon. The next generation Swift Dzire is based on the Suzuki Swift 2011 platform and is likely to be less than four metres!

With the launch of the Toyota Etios competition had increased for the popular sedan and this move can make a lot of difference as with this the car will come under the small car category and attract only 10 per cent excise duty as against the current 22 per cent.

This could translate to a cost cut of about Rs 40,000.

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The Dzire comes with 84bhp 1.2 petrol and a75bhp 1.3 turbo-diesel engines that is expected to stay, but a 90bhp Fiat diesel motor might find its way in.

The new Dzire would be developed only for the Indian market.

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Honda Civic

The Honda Civic is a popular model in India and recently the company previewed its next-generation North American model.

This model is especially for the North American market and is based on the outgoing European Civic Type R model.

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The Honda Civic is likely to be launched by mid-2011.

However, the rest of the markets will not get the same model. Also, the launch of Honda's new plug-in hybrid platform in 2012 is likely.

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