Sudden spike in demand for the Maruti Ertiga CNG - Report

TeamBHP reports that the CNG version of the outgoing Maruti Ertiga has experienced a sudden spike in demand. The 2018 Maruti Ertiga, which will launch at an event in New Delhi today, will be available in petrol and diesel engine variants. The lack of CNG option is said to have caused an increase in demand for the current model.

The CNG version of the first generation Maruti Ertiga was introduced in June 2013. Based on the VXI trim, it costs INR 8.44 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi). The company is known to be offering a cash discount of INR 20,000, along with an exchange bonus of INR 30,000, to clear the inventory of the outgoing model. That said, many dealers are told to be charging a premium for the CNG variant owing to the demand.

The Maruti Ertiga CNG benefits from the i-GPI technology (intelligent-Gas Port Injection). This system features a dual engine control unit that provides a calibrated amount of fuel to the engine, thereby optimising the fuel efficiency. The claimed fuel efficiency of this model stands at 22.8km/kg.

The availability of a factory-fitted CNG kit has ensured high popularity in the commercial vehicle market. The highly successful MPV is currently the only 7-seater model to be offered with a factory-fitted CNG hardware. This month, Maruti announced a cumulative sales of over 4.18 lakh units of the first generation Ertiga. Presently, the Maruti Ertiga has a monthly sales average of 3,196 units (May - October 2018).

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The 2018 Maruti Ertiga is likely to launch at a starting price of INR 7 lakh. It will retail through the Arena dealership network and will be sold in four grades - L, V, Z, and Z+. The diesel version, which retains the current model's 1.3-litre D13A turbo-diesel unit, will reportedly offer an ARAI-certified fuel efficiency of 25.47 km/l, which is a significant improvement over the outgoing model's 24.52 km/l.

The petrol version, which features the more powerful K15B 1.5-litre motor instead of the present model's K14B unit, will offer 19.34 km/l with the manual transmission and 17.5 km/l with the automatic version. In comparison, the current version offers 17.5 km/l with the manual and 17.03 km/l with the automatic gearbox. Both the engine variants benefit from the second-gen SHVS mild-hybrid technology.

Source- team-bhp.com