Maruti Suzuki is the largest car manufacturer in the Indian market. This Indo-Japanese carmaker holds more than 50 per cent market share in the passenger vehicle segment of the country. Maruti Suzuki has a lot of cars in its Indian portfolio and all of them are now petrol-powered only and some get CNG too. Earlier, the company used to offer both petrol as well as diesel engines in its cars, but thanks to the new stringent BS6 emission norms, the company ditched the oil-burners. But now, the BS6-compliant Maruti Suzuki Diesel Cars are coming back to India very soon and here are all the details you need to know about them.
Earlier, Maruti Suzuki used to sell the most number of diesel vehicles in the country. In fact, most of the Diesel Maruti cars were powered by the Fiat's 1.3-litre multi-jet diesel (MJD) engine and it was even known as the National Diesel Engine of India. However, last year in 2019, Maruti Suzuki officially announced that they will discontinue all the diesel powertrains from April 1, 2020, thanks to the new stringent BS6 emission norms. The carmaker earlier stated that the costs associated with the up-gradation of the diesel cars from BS4 to BS6 seemed quite impractical. Also, the price difference between the diesel-powered cars and petrol-powered cars nowadays is quite significant and the fuel prices have almost levelled-up.
All these factors considered together made Maruti discontinue the diesel vehicles from its Indian portfolio. However, as we have seen in recent times that a large number of buyers are still choosing diesel vehicles in the SUV segment. The demand for diesel powertrains in the SUV and MPV segment will continue to remain for the coming years. In fact, carmakers like Tata Motors, Hyundai, Kia, etc. still manage to sell a large number of cars with diesel engines. Maruti Suzuki knows that they are losing out on a lot of prospective buyers due to the lack of diesel engines. Maruti Suzuki India Limited's Chairman RC Bhargava once already said that the company will re-introduce the diesel-powered cars if there is a market for such vehicles.
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Now, as per the recent media reports, it is likely to happen very soon. The car manufacturer will introduce the BS6-compliant diesel-powered cars once again in the Indian market very soon. According to the latest reports, Maruti Suzuki has already started to upgrade its powertrain plant located in Manesar, Haryana. If reports are to be believed, Maruti Suzuki will start producing the BS6-compliant diesel engines at its Manesar facility by mid-2021 or by the festive season of next year. The company's Manesar plant was earlier also used to produce the in-house developed BS4-compliant 1.5-litre diesel engine. This powertrain was earlier offered with the Ciaz and the Ertiga, however, for a very brief period of time.
The new (DDiS 225) BS6-compliant 1.5-litre, four-cylinder diesel engine is expected to churn out around 95 PS of power at 4000 RPM and 225 Nm of peak torque between 1500-2500 RPM. The engine will initially most likely come mated to a six-speed manual gearbox only and the company might introduce an automatic transmission too in the future. Now, in its BS6 avatar, this 1.5-litre engine will first make its debut on the Vitara Brezza and the Ertiga with XL6, S-Cross, Ciaz and others to follow soon. Whether the small hatchbacks and the sedans will get a diesel engine or not, we will have to wait and watch.
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So, this was all about the upcoming BS6-compliant Maruti Suzuki Diesel cars! The diesel-powered Maruti Suzuki cars have already been spied on test in India multiple times and now finally, they are coming back! Are you happy with Maruti Suzuki's decision of re-introducing diesel mills in the MPVs and the SUVs, at least to begin with? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions with all of us in the comments section below. You can also join our 91Wheels Auto Enthusiast Telegram group (click via mobile to join) curated exclusively for the fans, enthusiasts and the owners. Further, subscribe to our YouTube channel for more such amazing motoring updates.
