Maruti Suzuki Ertiga
India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki is exploring an ambitious plan to build its own family of diesel engines, which will consist of oil burners with cubic-capacity ranging from 0.8 litres to 1.6 litres. Currently, all Maruti diesel cars use Fiat’s 1.3-litre MultiJet Diesel Engine (also known as National Engine of India), thus, the company has not been able to offer a wider product portfolio of diesel cars to Indian buyers.
Now the company wants to build its own family of engines. Firstly, the new 0.8-litre twin cylinder diesel engine would be introduced in the Maruti’s next-generation Carry LCV. The same engine could also make-way to Maruti’s small cars, such as the next-generation A-Star, Alto 800 and the WagonR. The 1.2-litre engine is likely to power the Swift and Ritz, while the 1.4 to 1.6-litre diesel engines would power the Ertiga, SX4 and upcoming compact SUV XA Alpha.
With the introduction of these engines, MSIL would no longer have to look at Fiat for sourcing diesel powerplants. This means that the car maker could price its upcoming diesel cars ultra competitively. But being their first diesel engine, it is very important for the company to focus on important parameters like performance, emission levels, fuel efficiency and NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) levels.
Maruti Suzuki Alto
Looking at the boom in LCV market in India, Maruti Suzuki shifted its plan to launch an 800cc diesel engine initially, which could churn out more diesel engines in the future. The development of its first 800cc diesel engine is at final stage of testing and suppliers have already been brought on board for development. Expect the first 800cc diesel engine to hit the market by end-2014 or early-2015.
However, the bigger 1.2-litre diesel engine is likely to be out only by 2015 and don’t expect the four-cylinder 1.6-litre oil burners not before 2016.
Also see – Maruti Suzuki all-set to introduce the first 800cc diesel engine in India
Source – Economic Times
