With a plan to take the design, technology, overall comfort and safety features to the next level, Maruti Suzuki India is all set to launch the new Wagon R Diesel sometime in October 2014. Like most Wagon R brands, also known as the company’s ‘Blue-eyed boys’, the new Wagon R is all set to catch the eye of its customer base and do so with a bang and lots of dizzle-dazzle. In fact, there has been word of the car making rounds at various test runs along the streets of Mumbai lately. India is finally read for small capacity diesel engine hatchbacks, as has been seen, and with the soaring prices of petrol and city limits extending beyond the normal, people are having a hard time sustaining petrol engine cars thanks to the high-running costs. Especially in cities like Delhi and Mumbai, where commuting by car is a must for many and where one has to cover long road distances, the approximate cost to maintain and run a petrol engine hatchback for even 2000 kms is somewhere over Rs. 10000. Hard-pressed isn’t it?
Maruti Wagon R – FrontViewMaruti Suzuki India has already launched two diesel engine hatchbacks; viz the Swift and the Ritz, but the starting price of the cars for an average Indian household is slightly high. This is potentially important since more than 70% of all Indians belong to the middle class income zone. Perhaps this is where the Maruti Suzuki Wagon R Diesel comes into play. The company has been working to develop a small diesel engine hatchback that is not only going to be their new compact car brand, but also be added to the existing Wagon R brands and even some other Maruti car brands. Expected to be a 1.0 litre turbocharged three-cylinder diesel engine, the Maruti Wagon R engine is most likely going to give the Chevrolet Beat diesel engine a tough competition.
Here is a comprehensive look at the Wagon R Diesel version:
- Exterior: The Wagon R diesel is expected to look very similar to the standard Wagon R car, but without the diesel badges. In this case, the badges will be the LDi/VDi variant on the back and the DDiS badges shall be placed near the side indicators of the car. Except for these minor differences, the diesel and the petrol versions will be hard to differentiate from each other. Also, Maruti Suzuki is most likely going to give the Wagon R a facelift by the end of this year, which means that the diesel version will have the same design as well.
- Interior: Like the outside, the interiors of the new Wagon R Diesel will also be quite similar or even same as that of the standard version, with hardly any mentionable changes. However, if any changes are to be made to the interior designs of the petrol variant, then the same shall be done to the diesel one as well, which means Maruti Suzuki will have to make changes to fit the design language and that means putting in use the Celerio. The seating space is going to be for 4-5 people, though it is slightly low when it comes to height.
Maruti Wagon R – RearView- Engine and Gearbox: Expected to make a debut with the Celerio, Maruti Suzuki is currently working on a new 800cc diesel engine that will eventually make its way into the new Wagon R. This engine is supposedly said to be able to produce about 70-75bhp and approximately 150-175Nm of torque. The front wheels will be powered by a five-speed manual gearbox it is said. Power is going to be 58.5PS@4000rpm. What’s more, with the Wagon R being light-weight, the car will be quite fuel efficient and give at least a return of nothing less than 20kmpl.
- Price & Competition: The basic price difference between the petrol and the diesel cars is expected to be a bit high, as this might be the second Maruti Suzuki car to be using this kind of engine. It is said that the Wagon R diesel car can start from Rs 4.3 lakhs and go up to at least Rs 5.2 lakhs when it comes to the high-end version.
Overall, the Wagon R Diesel hatchback is expected to make its debut during the festive season and with its pricing and overall spec, be quite a treat for those seeking smaller diesel engine, fuel efficient Maruti Suzuki options.
Bunny Punia, is the author of this article. He is journalist and automotive expert in India, and the head of content for the automotive website Gaadi.com.
Also see – Maruti to soon launch the diesel variant of Wagon R
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