Maruti Suzuki has increased production of the automated manual transmission (AMT) variants of the Celerio hatchback in a bid to reduce its waiting period which currently stretches out to four months. The Celerio was launched in February this year at the Auto Expo, and since then, the company has received over 57,800 bookings. Nearly 43 percent of bookings (about 25,000 units) were recorded for the AMT variants.
Initially, the carmaker was producing 4,500 units of the Celerio AMT every month, and it will now make nearly 6,000 units. About 7,000 units of the AMT Celerio have been delivered to customers so far, while nearly 22,000 units of the manual variant have met their owners.
At the time of launch, Maruti estimated the AMT variants to account for only 25 percent of overall sales, but the demand has far exceeded expectations. The company launched the AMT only on the base LXi and VXi trims of the hatchback which make do without ABS, EBD, airbags or even a music system.
Regardless of the transmission, the Celerio is powered by a 1.0-liter three-cylinder K-Series engine making 68 PS (67.04 bhp) and 90 Nm of torque.
Going forward, Maruti will launch the Celerio diesel by the end of this financial year.
[Source - Economic Times]
