Narrowing price gap between petrol and diesel is one of the reasons.
A report on the Economic Times states that the launch of the Maruti Celerio diesel in India will likely be delayed by 3-6 months. A delay is also expected for the LCV codenamed 'Y9T'.
While the slowdown in the LCV segment is to blame for the delayed introduction of the Y9T, narrowing price gap between petrol and diesel, which in turn has turned sales in favor of petrol-powered cars, is the reason for the Celerio diesel's postponement.
The publication reports that production of the diesel Celerio was supposed to start by December 2014, while the LCV was expected to roll out from January 2015. Now, the Celerio diesel is likely to enter production after April 2015, while the LCV could be pushed to April-end.
The company has also informed its vendors that first year volumes will be lower than projected. Maruti reportedly plans to make 700-800 units of the LCV and about 1,000 units of the Celerio diesel each month.
Also read: Maruti Eeco facelift to launch this year
Apart from the above-mentioned reasons for delay, sources have told the publication that the new 0.8-liter self-developed diesel engine faced technical issues. The engine is reported to return a class-leading 30.1 km/l.
Competition: Chevrolet Beat Diesel, Hyundai Grand i10
Expected Price: INR 4.6-5.7 Lakhs.
Expected Launch: Q2 2015
[Source: Economic Times]
