Maruti Suzuki is betting big on CNG technology to cater to fuel economy-prioritising customers who’d soon no longer have a diesel engine option in its line-up.
Maruti Suzuki has decided to offer a CNG variant of all small cars now. “All small cars in our portfolio will get converted to CNG,” R C Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki, told The Economic Times recently. The company is optimistic about its expanded CNG portfolio because of the government’s plan to significantly increase the availability of CNG nationally.
“There is an acceptance from the government that CNG is a cleaner fuel, and it is being accepted for transportation. They are setting up 10,000 CNG distribution outlets.”
Bhargava also laid stress on promoting factory-fitted CNG vehicles. He said that retrofitted CNG kits are imported and that CNG kits should be made in India.
“Retrofitment is done with imported parts — this is not Make in India. To promote Make in India, the government must encourage factory-fitted CNG vehicles… We should make CNG kits in India. Safety levels of CNG cars should go up.”
Maruti Suzuki is also working on upgrading its models from BS-IV to BS-VI. Currently, seven of its models are either partly or completely BS-VI compliant: Baleno, Alto 800, WagonR, Swift, Dzire, Ertiga and XL6.
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Maruti Suzuki calls its CNG vehicles ’S-CNG’ vehicles. Currently, five of its models are available in CNG, namely Alto, Alto K10, Celerio, WagonR and Ertiga. In the near future, following the discontinuation of the D13A 1.3L diesel engine, one can expect more popular models such as the Baleno, Swift and the Dzire to also become available in CNG.
Maruti Suzuki S-CNG vehicles - Prices*
- Alto S-CNG - INR 4.11 lakh
- Alto K10 S-CNG - INR 4.45 lakh
- WagonR S-CNG - INR 4.99 lakh
- Celerio S-CNG - INR 5.35 lakh
- Ertiga S-CNG - INR 8.87 lakh
*Ex-showroom Delhi
[Source: auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com]
