Premier has started delivery of the CRDi RiO to dealers in select cities. The RiO is now armed with a 1.3-litre Multijet diesel engine. This motor has been sourced from Fiat and Premier has named it as ‘CRDi4’ in the RiO. Premier has already signed a three-year contract with Fiat wherein the Italian automaker would supply 28,000 units of their 1.3-litre Multijet diesel engines to Premier. The engine from Fiat will enhance the power output of the diesel RiO from 65 BHP to 72 BHP. The torque output is 183 Nm between 1800-2400 RPM, while the fuel efficiency has been improved to 19 km/l.
The compact SUV is priced at Rs. 6.7 lakhs (ex-showroom Pune). The response has been a positive one, in fact more than the anticipated one from the dealer network. Premier has a decent sales network in the country, comprising of 55 dealers which is planned to be increased to 100 by this year end. The company has plans to set up 200 authorized centers for servicing of the RiO. These authorized centers will be called ‘PASS’ which stands for Premier Authorized Service Stations. Assembly of this car would take place in Premier’s assembly plant in Pune which has a capacity of 1000 units per month.
The petrol version of the Premier RiO is powered by a 1.2-litre 4-cylinder engine which produces a power output of 76.6 BHP and peak torque output of 104 Nm. The other diesel version of the RiO uses the 1.5-litre TDU5 diesel engine from Peugeot. This engine produces a power output of 65 BHP and peak torque output of 152 Nm. Premier will continue to sell the RiO with the TUD5 engine in BSIII markets. Except for the change in engine, everything else remains the same in the CRDi RiO and it remains to be seen if sales of the RiO increases in metro cities with the use of Fiat’s powertrain.
