Despite a big investment of Rs 1000 crores, Maruti failed to upgrade its engine.
Let’s talk about Maruti diesel engines.
Maruti diesel engines – HistorySuzuki being one of the master’s in petrol engines never had diesel DNA.
National Engine of IndiaDespite the poor response from Zen diesel, Maruti tied their hands with Fiat.
Maruti inhouse diesel enginesIn 2014 Maruti developed a brand new inhouse 2-cylinder diesel engine introduced with Celerio.
Maruti Suzuki, the most successful manufacturer in India, held a market share of 50 percent in 2020 in the country. The BS6 emission norms hit Maruti hard and it had to discontinue its diesel engine resulting in a big market share drop. Also, Maruti was caught off-guard in the SUV craze with its hatchback lineup. It has rectified its mistakes by bringing new SUVs, but the blunder it did with its diesel engines is still felt by the company. Despite a big investment of Rs 1000 crores, Maruti failed to upgrade its engine. Why did this happen? Let’s talk about Maruti diesel engines.
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Maruti diesel engines – History
Suzuki being one of the master’s in petrol engines never had diesel DNA. In India, Diesel cars like Tata Indica, Tata Sumo and Tata Safari were doing good numbers due to their efficient and peppy nature. As a result Maruti also decided to plunge into the diesel engine space. Hence, Maruti introduced the 1.5-litre Peugeot diesel engine on the Zen in 1998. Later, in 2002 it also powered the Maruti Esteem. But the life of this engine was short lived as both the Zen and Esteem diesels were discontinued in 2004.
National Engine of India
Despite the poor response from Zen diesel, Maruti tied their hands with Fiat. In 2007, Maruti re-entered the diesel space by launching a diesel engine on the Swift. This engine was developed jointly by Fiat with General Motors. Moreover, Maruti had calibrated the engine in such a way that it had less NVH, turbo lag and the power delivery was better due to less weight of Maruti Cars. This 1.3L DDiS engine made its way to a bunch of Maruti cars such as Dzire, Ritz, Vitara Breeza, S-Cross, etc. With Diesel engines popularity Maruti was at its peak with 50 percent market share. But Maruti wanted more from diesel’s and also started working on an inhouse diesel engine.
Maruti inhouse diesel engines
In 2014 Maruti developed a brand new inhouse 2-cylinder diesel engine introduced with Celerio. But this unit was prone to issues like refinement, vibrations and performance as a result due to poor sales it was discontinued in 2017. Until 2019 Maruti combined the two 2-cylinder engines resulting in a 4-cylinder unit which produced 95 hp and 225 nm which was improved from the Fiats diesel engine. Moreover, the issues like refinement, vibrations and performance were rectified from the earlier learnings.
But this engine couldn’t make its way in BS6 guise due to its design flaw which resulted in the end of this engine. Initially, thought to be an indigenous solution which could help in advanced fuel efficiency due to Integrated Exhaust Manifold. With the BS6 emission norms there was an introduction of DPF(Diesel Particulate Filter) which combines with DOC(Diesel Oxidation Catalyst) that works at high temperatures. With the integrated exhaust manifold the temperature of exhaust gas reduces below the required temperature for the DPF and DOC to activate resulting in improper functioning. In the end, Maruti had to discontinue both its inhouse diesel and the legendary 1.3L DDiS engine severely affecting its market share.
Although, if Maruti had worked a bit and upgraded to BS6 emission norms it would have made its way into Maruti cars such as Breeza, Jimny, Grand Vitara and other cars as well. But, it might also have long term reliability issues like choking, sludging, etc. With BS6.2 Maruti would have made a comeback but it would come at a cost. Moreover, Maruti has missed the opportunity and now investing in diesel engines doesn’t make any sense.
Also read – Maruti Cars Are Now Cheaper!
Future Expectations
Along with EVs, Maruti is working on hybrids and other fuel alternatives. Recently, it posted a teaser revealing something new coming on its S-CNG, could be automatic or twin-cylinder technology. Further, Maruti also has plans to introduce flex-fuel technology in its vehicles. Moreover, Maruti is also working on a cost effective series hybrid combination that would debut with Fronx in 2025 and is claimed to deliver a fuel efficiency of about 35 kmpl which would be class leading figures.
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