Maruti Suzuki will launch the updated Ciaz in India on August 20, 2018, and one of the notable changes on the car will be its new petrol engine. As we have reported in the past, Suzuki’s new 1.5-litre K15B petrol engine will replace the outgoing car’s 1.4-litre K14B unit. The new engine will make 104hp and 138.4Nm of torque, which is 12hp and 8.4Nm more than that of the current unit.
The good news is that the increase in power and torque will not come at the cost of fuel economy. In fact, leaked details of the updated Ciaz point towards the new petrol version being even more fuel efficient. According to company insiders privy to the information, the new Ciaz petrol’s official ARAI-tested fuel economy stands at 21.56kpl for the manual version and 20.28kpl for the automatic. For reference, the outgoing Ciaz petrol’s official figures are 20.73kpl for the manual and 19.12kpl for the automatic. The petrol Ciaz was already the most fuel-efficient car in its class; these new figures further help the Ciaz distance itself from rivals like the Hyundai Verna, Honda City and the Toyota Yaris that have been rated with official economy figures of 17.7kpl, 17.8kpl and 17.1kpl in petrol-manual form.
Partially responsible for the Ciaz’s improved fuel economy is the incorporation of Suzuki’s SHVS mild-hybrid system with the new petrol engine. The tech was so far limited to the diesel Ciaz only. While the basic working remains the same, Maruti has opted for a dual-battery setup on the new Ciaz 1.5 petrol SHVS. Sources tell us that the second battery will be a lead-acid unit and will only be used to power the air conditioner and headlamps when the start-stop system activates and shuts the engine down at long halts.
The other engine on offer on the Ciaz – a 90hp/200Nm 1.3-litre turbo-diesel – will carry on unchanged. Maruti Suzuki’s all-new, in-house 1.5-litre diesel engine will make its way on to the Ciaz eventually.
Engine details aside, our sources tell us that there will be four variants on offer, with the top two trims getting LED daytime running lamps and LED headlamps. There are talks of LED fog lamps too. At the back the Ciaz will get LED inserts for the tail-lamps for a more upmarket look.
Nexa dealers have started accepting bookings offcially for the new Ciaz facelift for an amount of Rs 11,000. Dealerships are also offering great deals on remaining stock of the outgoing model of the Ciaz.
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