With the current Indian automotive market shifting towards diesel engine powered vehicles, the country’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki feels handicapped at some occasions with the current inability to offer a diesel engine with all its models. Currently the company offers diesel powertrains in its Swift, Swift Dzire, SX4, Ritz and the newly launched Ertiga. But the volume segment models like Alto, WagonR, Eeco among other models are not still available with the diesel engine option.Mr. Shinzo Nakanishi, managing director of Maruti Suzuki India said that the R&D team of the company says it is impossible to offer diesel models for all its models. With the diesel demand surging higher, the company is offering alternate fuel like CNG powered vehicles to effectively gain some additional numbers that otherwise the company would have lost to its competitors.
Despite the petrol price hovering so high, the Maruti Suzuki Alto remains the highest selling model in the Indian car market with clocking close to 20,000 units per month. However, the company is trying to reduce its dependency on the Fiat sourced 1.3-litre diesel engine. For this, the company is rumoured to be developing a 1.0-litre. 3-cylinder diesel engine at its in-house R&D centre. The company is also pumping heavy investment close to Rs. 900 crores at Rohtak, Haryana to bring up a new R&D centre. Suzuki Powertrain India is also rumoured to be doing similar developments.
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