Regular Indian Autos Blog readers would know that the Maruti Ertiga is doing well in the Indonesian market. You would also know about Mazda's rebadged Ertiga which is called the Mazda VX-1.
For the Indonesian market however, Maruti ships only the petrol variants of the car via the CKD route. So what should be the next logical step for the Suzuki in Indonesia?
An automatic transmission of course! While in India, we're just finding our feet with the automatic tranny's (pun intended!), the international markets embrace the clutch-free cars, even if they are sold in the petrol variants.
In a recent interview with Tribunn News, Davy Tuilan, Dealer Network Development Director Suzuki Indomobil Sales said that the Ritz (sold as Splash in other markets) would get an automatic transmission around the second quarter of this year.
The automatic Ritz would be launched along with the facelift (which the Indian Ritz received just months ago). The automatic version of the Ertiga would also be launched sometime later this year, said Tuilan.
In India, Maruti sells the A-Star, Ritz and the Swift Dzire automatic (excluding the Kizashi and the Grand Vitara). Those three cars have the similar K Series engine setup, albeit in different forms.
The Ertiga also uses a 1.4-liter K Series engine (the most powerful K Series engine to be sold in India). Hence, it is not going to be an uphill task to set up an automatic transmission for the MPV. While history suggests it could be a 4-speed unit, the exact details are not yet confirmed.
This begs the question: Will Maruti be offering the Ertiga AT in India as well considering that the vehicle for Indonesia will be shipped from its plant?
[Source - Tribunn News]
