The seven-seater Wuling Almaz comes with subtle cosmetic changes at the rear and is priced aggressively in Indonesia
Wuling Motors Indonesia has unveiled the seven-seater version of the Almaz SUV at the ongoing 2019 GIIAS (Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show). The Chinese company took the centre stage by officially revealing the prices of the new variant. As part of its two-year celebration in Indonesia, the three-row Almaz was showcased to the media a few days ago.
And as expected, it comes at an attractive price range. Offered in two trims, the seven-seater Wuling Almaz is available in the Smart Enjoy variant with a price tag of 263.8 million Rupiah (Rs. 13.05 lakh) with a manual transmission while the CVT-spec version costs 275.8 million Rupiah (Rs. 13.64 lakh). They undercut the top-end five-seater by a big margin as it is priced at 328.2 million Rupiah (Rs. 16.23 lakh).
The Executive trim of the seven-seater Almaz sits as the range-topper with a price of 338.8 million Rupiah (Rs. 16.76 lakh). The addition of the third-row in the Almaz has expanded the SUV’s range to four variants. The Wuling Almaz is a cosmetically engineered and rebadged version of the Baojun 530, much like the latest Chevrolet Captiva and MG Hector. The seven-seater’s rear end almost mimics the Hector.
The Hector is already sold in India with an aggressive starting price of Rs. 12.18 lakh (ex-showroom) and its seven-seater variant will go on sale in early 2020 following the debut of the eZS electric SUV that will compete against the recently launched Hyundai Kona Electric.
It will be interesting to see where the three-row Hector will be positioned against competitors and if the new Almaz is anything to go by, we can expect it to undercut the high-spec five-seater by a notable margin. It will compete directly against Jeep Compass, upcoming Tata Buzzard, Mahindra XUV500 and others.
The second-row bench seat has one-touch tumble function for access to the rear in the Almaz seven-seater. It can be moved back and forth to allow more room at the back and the third-row bench has 50:50 split and can be levelled to the floor. Separate AC vent has been provided for the third row and the same setup can be expected in the Hector.