Showcased at the 2014 Auto Expo earlier this year, Maruti Suzuki has been testing the upcoming S-Cross across the country and is expected to launch the crossover by February 2015. While the launch is still sometime away, recent reports have given some new and important insight on what to expect under the hood of the S-Cross crossover. Gaadiwaadi.com reports that sources close to Maruti suggest that the S-Cross will not come with a petrol engine and will have two diesel engines on offer instead.
The diesel engines in question are the 1.6-litre unit that produces 118 PS, paired to a 6-speed manual transmission and the 1.3-litre motor that produces 90 PS, paired to a 5-speed manual gearbox. While the 1.3-litre unit is a familiar engine to India and is also available on the Swift twins and the Ertiga, the 1.6-litre motor will be relatively new to the country. If the power output is to be believed, the engine is most likely to be sourced from Fiat, ruling out the possibility of Peugeot’s 1.6-litre DV6 CRDi mill to be used that produces 112 PS.
The S-Cross will be available in three variants on each of the engine options. The 1.3-litre DDiS engine will be offered on the LDi, VDi and the VDi (O) trims, but will miss out on the top-end ZDi trim. The 1.6-litre engine on the other hand will be offered in the VDi, VDi (O) and ZDi trims and will miss out on the base LDi trim. With the market favouring towards diesel powered SUVs, petrol engines are not good sellers (case in point being the Renault Duster) and is the reason for Maruti to not offer the same. In terms of design, do not expect any radical changes on the S-Cross and the crossover will be similar to the model showcased at the Auto Expo.
Apparently, Maruti Suzuki has also commenced production of the petrol powered Ciaz sedan that will be used for test drives at dealerships, while the diesel powered models will go into production soon. The Ciaz will also come with the 1.3-litre DDiS motor producing 90 PS under the hood, paired to a 5-speed manual transmission; whereas the petrol unit will be the 1.4-litre K-Series motor from the Ertiga producing 95 PS of power. The Ciaz is expected to be launched around September this year, with bookings set to commence this month onwards.
Source – Gaadiwaadi.com