Maruti is all set to launch its diesel-powered Celerio in India sometime in May or June this year. The Celerio diesel, will be powered by Suzuki’s first ever diesel that’s been designed and developed completely in-house by the Japanese carmaker which throughout its 63-year history has focused only on small displacement petrol engines. According to company sources, the new 800cc, twin-cylinder diesel is developing around 45bhp and is expected to deliver close to 30kpl. Maruti Celerio diesel will come with ABS in higher variants but there is no AMT version on the diesel planned for now.
Reducing noise levels has been the biggest challenge for Maruti and this is cited as one of the reasons for the delay in the Celerio’s launch according to company insiders. However, the company is now confident that NVH levels have been lowered to acceptable levels and the car has finished the last phase of testing.
Maruti is also readying its first commercial vehicle (code: Y9T), which is a small pick-up to rival the Tata Ace. The Y9T will also be powered by the same 800cc, two-cylinder diesel motor, albeit in a different state of tune.
Maruti has taken a conscious decision to launch its first in-house diesel in the Celerio before the Y9T because the company doesn’t want customers to perceive the new diesel as a utilitarian engine for commercial applications.
Maruti is also planning to launch a top-spec petrol Celerio automatic with its now ubiquitous Automated Manual Transmission (AMT). The Celerio AMT is currently available in the base and mid-level trims. The Celerio ZXi AMT will come with body-coloured door handles and wing mirrors with integrated turn signals, keyless entry, steering-mounted audio controls, outside temperature display and a rear window wiper with washer. It will also get a driver airbag as standard. However, it still miss out on ABS and a passenger airbag which are standard on the top-spec manual Celerio ZXi (O).