Maruti Suzuki will be launching the Celerio diesel by the first half of 2015. It will add more growth to the already successful hatchback.
The Maruti Celerio was launched in 2014 and it received a really good response. The petrol engine has always been known as a reliable performer while the added plus point of the AMT gearbox delighted buyers. The only thing that the Celerio was missing was a diesel engine. Right from the beginning it has been known that Maruti is developing its own diesel engine which will power the Celerio. As of now, Maruti Suzuki doesn’t have its own diesel engine in any of its cars and it uses the 1.3-litre Multijet engine sourced from Fiat. Now that the company has developed its own engine, it will be very interesting to see how they diversify the use of this engine in their other products.
The Maruti Celerio diesel will be powered by a 800cc 2-cylinder turbocharged motor that produces 50 PS of power. The engine has been self-developed by engineers from Maruti Suzuki with inputs from Suzuki Japan. Maruti is also coming up with a new LCV called Y9T and that too will make use of the same engine. This 800cc unit will be the smallest capacity diesel powerplant available in India. This mill helps the Celerio return a fuel efficiency of 30.1 km/l and those mileage-conscious buyers will surely be grinning right now. At present, Maruti will offer only a manual transmission with the car and an AMT will be offered later on.
The Maruti Celerio is already successful and the diesel engine is only going to add to the numbers. The Celerio competes with the Chevrolet Beat, Hyundai i10, Ford Figo, etc. The diesel engine will be offered in three variants – LDi, VDi and ZDi. There won’t be any other changes on the car apart from new alloy wheels. The Maruti Celerio is priced between Rs. 3.90 – 4.96 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi) and we can expect the diesel variants to be pricier by Rs. 65,000-75,000/-. The diesel model will be launched in India in the first half of 2015, most likely in April.
Source – GaadiWaadi on Twitter
