With ever increasing fuel prices, there is demand like never before for efficient little hatchbacks and the country’s largest hatchback manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki wants to take advantage of this. Maruti Suzuki has always been known for its presence in the hatchback segment and currently rules the roost in the segment. Maruti Suzuki hatchbacks have always been known for their efficiency and their no nonsense attitude, but now Maruti Suzuki intends to take their obsession with efficiency to new levels.
Suzuki Swift EV Hybrid – ExteriorView (image used as an illustration)
Maruti Suzuki is reportedly working on Hybrid technology for their mass market hatchbacks like the Swift, Celerio and Alto. The new hybrid technology is expected to be made available to the general public in about 3 or 4 years time and will make Maruti Suzuki a pioneer in this segment as, launching this technology to cater to the mass market has never been attempted in India before.
“It is no more a concept. The real work is under way and the hybrid technology development is at an advanced stage. A large part of the development is happening in Japan and key inputs from Indian R&D engineers are also being absorbed. The idea is to offer a technology to the mass with not a major price difference over existing petrol cars.” Said a Key person involved in the project.
Suzuki Swift EV Hybrid – InteriorView (image used as an illustration)
There are two kinds of hybrid technology in the market, one in which the propulsion is done with the help of a petrol or diesel engine at higher speeds and an electric motor at lower, traffic condition speeds, and another in which the propulsion takes place only with the help of an electric motor on the wheels and the petrol or diesel engine is used to generate electricity for the for the electric motors.
It is not yet known what kind of hybrid system would be used in the Maruti Suzuki hatchbacks, but it will surely make the cars about 30% more efficient and 25-30 kilometres to the liter would be the norm on these hybrid hatchbacks. Even Mahindra appears to be thinking on similar lines but for SUV’s instead of hatchbacks. Mahindra Intends to launch a hybrid variant of the XUV 500, codenamed W202 which, when launched would be the world’s first diesel-hybrid SUV with a manual transmission.
To read more on Suzuki Swift Hybrid, Click here
Also see – Maruti Suzuki Swift Range Extender revealed; looks promising
See more pictures of Suzuki Swift EV Hybrid –
Source – Economic Times
