The country’s largest passenger vehicle maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) will soon be ready with its 1.5-litre diesel engine, which may be fitted in the upcoming models of Ertiga, XL6, Ciaz and Vitara Brezza.
Sources in the know told BusinessLine that the company is working on this engine for over a year now at its powertrain factory in Manesar (Haryana), which could fill the void of diesel options in its upcoming products.
“The diesel 1.5-litre engine may come with the new XL6 multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) that the company plans to launch around January. Later, it may be fitted to the Vitara Brezza that MSIL plans to launch in February at the Auto Expo and then to Ertiga MPV,” a source privy to the development said.
Requesting anonymity, the person said, in future, the same engine can be fitted to the only mid-sedan it has — the Ciaz — which had earlier too enjoyed having the 1.5-litre diesel engine at its heart. Ertiga also briefly had the engine its earlier avatar.
MSIL that had diesel engine options, including the 1.3-litre for long in models such as Swift, Dzire, S-Cross and Baleno, had to stop because of the new regulations of BS -VI that kicked in last year.
The company does not have any diesel engine since the ban on BS-IV engines in March last year. Once the new diesel engine is ready then the vehicles that Maruti Suzuki supplies to Toyota Kirloskar Motor, will automatically have the same. For instance, the Urban Cruiser which has the same engine and specifications of Vitara Brezza.
When asked about the developments, a company spokesperson, said, “We do not give any forward-looking guidance on products.”
Covid-19 hits launches
Sources at the company said the launches are being delayed due to the pandemic and when things get to normalcy, more products and variants are expected to be launched. For instance, MSIL that was supposed to launch the all-new Celerio hatchback in April this year, would now be launching around September, they said.
The upcoming Celerio will be fitted with a BS-VI compliant 1.0-litre petrol engine and there will also be an option of a new refined 1.2-litre petrol engine, for the first time in this product, the sources said.
But whether the company has a diesel option or not, it still enjoys the highest sales in each category, and sold a total of 13,23,396 units between April 2020 and March this year, in the domestic market.