The Maruti Eeco diesel will be using a 792cc twin-cylinder oil burner in addition to the existing petrol version and is expected to return around 26-28 km/l mileage on the people’s mover.
The Maruti Eeco was introduced in 2010 and is ideally the first sub 4-metre multi-seater to be sold in the country. Until now, the Indian auto giant sold the Eeco with only a petrol engine along with the optional CNG variant. The more recent years have seen the segment grow as more people movers have been launched powered by small capacity diesel engines. Catching up with competition, news now comes that Maruti Suzuki is all set to introduce the Eeco diesel later this year.
The Maruti Suzuki Eeco diesel will be drawing power from a 792cc twin-cylinder oil burner which made its debut on the Celerio last year. The newly-developed engine is tuned to produce 47 BHP of power at 3500 RPM and 125 Nm of torque at 2000 RPM, paired to a 5-speed gearbox, sending power to the rear wheels. The diesel motor weighs a light 89 kgs compared to the petrol derivative that weighs 130 kgs. As a result, the overall kerb weight will be lighter that will help achieve a higher fuel efficiency of around 26-28 km/l.
Maruti witnesses strong sales for the Eeco in semi-urban as well as rural markets and the latter is growing at a steady pace leasing more opportunities for manufacturers. Maruti’s multi-seater will be locking horns with the Tata Ace Magic, Mahindra Supro and the likes in the segment that already use small capacity diesel engines under the hood. That said, the Eeco is more car-like in appearance considering its underpinnings come from the defunct Versa. The people’s mover is bare-bones in terms of features and only gets an AC unit as a noteworthy input but is void of any safety tech, save for seat belts.
A launch date on the Maruti Eeco diesel has not been confirmed yet but can be expected in the first half of this year which will help the automaker to improve sales further. Maruti’s people movers, the Eeco and Omni cumulatively contribute around 10 percent of the company’s total sales with the former selling over 5000 units on an average every month. Those are appreciable numbers which will significantly increase with the diesel version’s arrival.
Source – Gaadiwaadi.com