Maruti looks to amp up diesel offerings with new 1.5-litre engine

Maruti Suzuki India | Company would re-start production of vehicles at its Manesar plant from May 12. (Image: Moneycontrol)

Advait Berde
Moneycontrol News

With petrol prices rising and cars becoming more demanding regarding fuel consumption, car manufacturers are finding it difficult to keep people satisfied with petrol engines. Hence, taking a deviation from the standard petrol engine development, Maruti Suzuki decided to come up with a brand-new diesel engine for their range of cars.

Shedding its done and dusted 1.3-litre Diesel Direct injection System (DDiS) engine, they have come up with an all-new 1.5-litre diesel engine. Maruti Suzuki is expected to introduce the engine by 2020.

Diesel cars are a tad expensive compared to their petrol counterparts and that is due to diesel components being costlier to manufacture and assemble. Out of the three hatchbacks, the Ignis is exclusively petrol now, and the Swift and Baleno have a diesel trim. However, with this engine the cost is expected to shoot up so much so that only one car will have the diesel motor.

At this moment, even if it is difficult to say which car will be upgraded, it can be safely assumed that S-Cross, Brezza, Ertiga, Ciaz may be amped up, primarily because they need a newer, better engine. This could also pave the way for the R&D of a new gearbox, and it is expected that the same engine will be offered in at least three states of tune.