Maruti Suzuki's news of taking down the diesel engines by March this year struck the auto-market by lightning. The company's shares which were already trembling down due to weak sales, took a deeper dive after Maruti Suzuki announced that it is phasing out diesel engines in the future.
Now 6 months down the line, it is rumoured that Maruti Suzuki is set to re-introduce Fiat's 1.6L diesel engine in accordance with the upcoming BS-VI emission norms. This engine was offered in the BS-IV version in the S-Cross, but it was discontinued with the mid-cycle refresh owing to poor demand.
Maruti Suzuki has slowly and steadily updated its current petrol-powered portfolio with the BS-VI emission requirements. Speaking of which, its offerings like Swift twins, Baleno, Ertiga, XL6 and the recently launched S-Presso, all are BS-VI compliant vehicles. The rumored report claims that the company will introduce the BS-VI compliant 1.6-litre diesel engine in select vehicles such as S-Cross, XL6 6-seater premium MPV and the upcoming Mahindra XUV500 rival. It is because there is still a concrete demand for diesel engines in the premium vehicles especially SUVs and MPVs. At the same time, Maruti Suzuki certainly doesn't want to lose out on the premium vehicle market especially when the new buying trend clearly hints that Indian customers are starting to spend more on premium vehicles. While if entry and mid-level vehicles are taken into consideration, buyers have more affinity towards petrol since they bring more value for money proposition, and also have a longer life span in comparison to diesels.
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The report claims that diesel engine in question will only be seen in the market in late 2020. It indirectly hints discontinuation of the in-h0use developed 1.5L diesel engine permanently.
[Source: Gaadiwaadi]
