Maruti to Axe Celerio Diesel? No BS VI for the Twin 800 cc Mill Planned: Speculation

Due to the changing shift in market dynamics, Celerio Diesel may be discontinued once BS6 kicks in…

Maruti has been the king of the small car market here in India since we gained senses. Not many years back, Indian market shifted preference to diesel engines and with this change, Maruti Suzuki decided to make a few of its own. That’s when they brought out the twin cylinder diesel mill and plonked it on the Celerio in June 2015, about a year after the car was first introduced in the market (in petrol form).

At the moment Celerio diesel is India’s most fuel-efficient small car, and the figures are overshadowed only by its Ciaz SHVS. But the complete market dynamics have changed in these couple of years. With the fall of overall fuel prices and sudden thrashing of the diesel fuel-run cars, buyers are opting petrol over diesel.

Maruti-Celerio Diesel ABS-Airbags (2)

And this is what has probably forced manufacturers to think about their future plans. The word on the street is that Maruti may not pursue with the 800 cc diesel motor once the country shifts to BS VI regime. While the increase in prices (of diesel-run cars) is a factor behind this, a report on Economic Times adds that the car makers are also experiencing a drop in sales of diesel-powered vehicles. The major reason cited for this is that they may not want to invest so heavily on this tech/engine since the overall wind is flowing against it. This, in turn, may mean a small shelf life of the car before it gets discontinued around 2020 (current timeline scheduled for the introduction of BS6 emission norms).

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The 793 cc two-cylinder mill is Suzuki’s first diesel motor for the world. Much of the research and development for the same was done in India. It churns out 47.6 PS of maximum power at 3,500 rpm and 125 Nm of peak torque at 2,000 rpm. The fuel efficiency was rated at 27.62 kmpl.

This diesel engine was expected to make way into other small cars as well, especially the WagonR. However, all that seems to be on the backburner and we are not sure if Maruti will indeed launch a new product for such a small time frame. With the stricter BS VI emission norms, diesel cars are expected to become around a couple of lakhs costlier than their petrol counterparts. At present, this difference hovers around a lakh to Rs 1.25 lakhs for small cars.

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