Report - Maruti Celerio diesel to launch this fiscal year

Maruti Suzuki is working on its first self-developed diesel engine which will find application in a light commercial vehicle, codenamed Maruti Y9T. The same diesel engine will also be used in small passenger vehicles, and according to a fresh report on the Financial Express newspaper, the Celerio would be the first passenger car from the brand to make use of this new engine.

The engine in question is reported to be a two-cylinder, 800 cc unit. A company source told the newspaper that the Celerio diesel would launch this fiscal year (April 2014 - March 2015).

The Celerio, which is a replacement for the A-Star (Alto in international markets), was launched in India in February this year at the Auto Expo. The hatchback was introduced with a 1.0-liter three-cylinder petrol engine, while gearbox choices included a 5-speed manual and an automated manual transmission (AMT).

Maruti, though being India's largest car maker, does not have its own diesel engine and instead uses Fiat's Multijet diesel motor. The company's entry-level diesel cars currently consists of the Ritz and Swift. While the Ritz diesel starts at INR 5.27 lakhs (ex-Showroom, New Delhi), the Swift diesel is about INR 20,000 pricier.

Read our driving impressions of the Maruti Celerio AMT

The Celerio diesel when launched, will be priced and positioned below these cars. The only other diesel vehicles that will compete with the Celerio diesel will be the Chevrolet Beat diesel (priced at INR 4.77 lakhs) and the Hyundai Grand i10 diesel (priced at INR 5.15 lakhs).

[Source - Financial Express]