When Maruti announced it won’t update any of its diesel engines to satisfy BS6 emission norms, many saw it because the death of mass-market diesel offerings. Other carmakers like Renault, Nissan and Skoda-VW have taken similar paths in India. However, it seems Maruti is prepared to bring back its 1.5-litre diesel in 2021 for its bigger models just like the SUVs and MPVs.
Maruti had always stated that they might bring back diesels if there was enough demand for it and it seems the carmaker is convinced that there’s . one among the most reasons cited for not discontinuing the diesel engines to BS6 norms was the value involved in updating them. But it seems Maruti has evaluated that the demand makes the investment worthwhile . within the meantime, Hyundai, Tata, Kia and Mahindra appeared to have appropriated most of the diesel demand, especially within the sub-4m SUV and compact SUV segments.
The diesel set to return is that the 1.5-litre unit that was developed in-house and made at Maruti’s Manesar powertrain plant and Introduced in 2018. This engine was offered with the Ertiga and Ciaz models. In its BS4 avatar, it made 95PS/225Nm and was mated to a 6-speed manual to supply a claimed mileage of around 25kmpl. Once updated to satisfy the BS6 norms, Maruti might offer it with the Vitara Brezza and therefore the Ertiga initially , with the XL6 and S-Cross to follow from the Nexa lineup.
Maruti could price the diesel variants almost like the automated variants of the 1.5-litre petrol engines which add a premium of around Rs 1.4 lakh over the manual variants. it’d even be less counting on the model in question. Would you be willing to pay the premium for a diesel-powered Vitara Brezza or Ertiga? allow us to know within the comments below.