Maruti Suzuki Ciaz may soon get 1.5-litre engine in India

As Maruti Suzuki continues to make changes to its premium sedan Ciaz, rumours have begun to swirl around the model once again. The latest is that the carmaker envisages a larger 1.5-litre engine to make it stay ahead of its competitors. Ciaz, which was recently moved from the regular dealerships of the company to Nexa premium showrooms, is also expected to get a facelift in the country as well.

A recent report of TeamBHP, citing sources at Maruti Suzuki, revealed that the company had successfully tested the new 1.5-litre engine in Ciaz. While there is no information on the launch of Ciaz with the bigger engine in the country, it is said that both the petrol and diesel engine versions of Ciaz are likely to get the 1.5-litre engines. However, the Smart Hybrid Vehicle by Suzuki (SHVS) is likely to stay intact even with the new engine options in the Ciaz sedan.

Equipping Ciaz with a more powerful engine would make the sedan a better contender in its segment against its arch rivals Honda City and Hyundai Verna. Honda City is powered by a 1.5L i-VTEC engine and a 1.5L i-DTEC diesel engine. Verna, which will be also updated in India, gets a 1.4-litre diesel and petrol engines, and 1.6-litre diesel and petrol engines.

Also Read: GST price of Maruti Suzuki cars: 2017 Dzire, Vitara Brezza, S-Cross, Ignis, Baleno & others become cheaper

Currently, Ciaz comes powered by a 1,373 cc petrol unit and a 1,248 cc diesel mill under the hood. While the petrol unit develops 91 bhp at 6,000 rpm and 130 Nm of torque at 4,000 rpm mated to five-speed manual transmission, the diesel unit comes equipped with a small hybrid system which produces 89 bhp at 4,000 rpm and 200 Nm of torque at 1,750 rpm. The petrol variant is also available with four-speed automatic transmission.

When Maruti shifted Ciaz to Nexa, it did not make any changes to the model apart from minor tweaks at the rear badging in line with the Nexa models. However, Maruti has been testing a facelifted model of Ciaz and it is expected to make it to the Nexa showrooms by the end of 2017.

Source: TeamBHP