Maruti Suzuki launched the Ertiga MPV in its portfolio in April 2012 and it received an overwhelming response from customers. It is a 7-seater compact MPV and Maruti Suzuki likes to call it a LUV (Life Utility Vehicle). Now Maruti Suzuki is planning to launch a CNG version of the Ertiga within a few months of time. The manufacturer has a target to sell around 1000 – 1500 units of the Ertiga CNG variant every month. Currently, the combined sales of the petrol and diesel variants comes up to 5000 – 6000 units per month.
Maruti Suzuki will use the petrol powered Ertiga for the CNG variant, which features the 1.4-litre K-Series petrol engine that produces 94 BHP of maximum power at 6000 RPM with 130 Nm of peak torque at 4000 RPM, mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. The diesel sibling of the Ertiga is powered by a 1.3-litre Fiat Multijet turbo diesel engine that produces 89 BHP of peak power with a peak torque of 200 Nm, it is the top selling version of the Ertiga. The low running costs of the CNG version is expected to be a good seller amongst the taxi segment and some private buyers too.
The Maruti Ertiga currently rivals the Mahindra Quanto and Renault Duster and both the rivals lack a CNG variant, where Maruti Suzuki has a big opportunity to fill the gap with the Ertiga CNG variant. While the India-spec Ertiga comes with a 5-speed manual gearbox only, Suzuki is planning to introduce the automatic version of the Ertiga in Indonesia. The company has already launched the Ertiga AT in Thailand. We can also expect Maruti Suzuki to launch the Ertiga with an automatic variant in India soon. Currently, Maruti Suzuki offers the Swift DZire, Ritz, A-Star and the SX4 with an optional automatic transmission.
Source – Autocar India
