Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest car maker is reportedly working on a new diesel engine, which will power the company's upcoming Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) and the Celerio in India.
A recent report by the Economic times said that the new 800cc diesel engine will be developed at the Maruti Suzuki plant in Gurgaon and the engine will promise a fuel efficiency of 30 kmpl. Currently, Chevrolet Beat's 1,000cc diesel engine is the smallest in the market and Maruti's 800cc engine might just grab the title from Beat.
Unveiled at the Auto Expo 2014 in Noida, Celerio is the first car in India to come with Automated Manual Transmission (AMT). Currently, Maruti sells Celerio with a 998cc, 3-cylinder, K10B engine, which can churn out a power of 67 bhp at 6,000 rpm and a torque of 9.1 kgm at 3,500 rpm. It is offered in six variants in the country - two with automatic transmission and four with manual transmission - and claims a fuel efficiency of 23.1 kilometers for both versions.
Celerio diesel has been sending rumour mills on overdrive for quite sometime now. The 800 cc diesel engine is likely to produce a power of 35 bhp and Maruti is expected to launch diesel Celerio in this fiscal year. If the Celerio diesel can return a mileage of 30kmpl as said, the vehicle will also become India's most fuel efficient car, outshining the current frontrunners Honda City (26 km/l) and Honda Amaze (25.8 km/l).
Recently, Maruti also launched CNG Celerio Dubbed Celerio Green for ₹4.68 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). Under the hood, the new Celerio CNG packs the same 1.0 liter K series petrol engine, which is re-tuned to churn out 68 ps of power at 6,000 rpm and 90 Nm of torque at 3,500 rpm in petrol mode and 59 ps of power and 78 Nm of torque in CNG mode.
The engine comes mated to five-speed manual transmission and is available only in Vxi trim. The car claims a fuel economy of 31.79km/kg and comes in seven colours - Sunshine Ray, Cerulean Blue, Cave Black, Blazing Red, Pearl Arctic White, Glistening Grey and Silky Silver in the country.