A few days ago, Maruti Suzuki celebrated 37 years since the launch of the iconic Maruti 800. 37 years since many automakers came in and tried but none could challenge the monopoly of Maruti Suzuki. Even today, the dominance, the monopoly of Maruti Suzuki is evident as it holds over 50% of the market share, which effectively means every second car is a Maruti Suzuki. That is utter dominance.
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Transitioning into the BS6 era post-April 2020, Maruti Suzuki decided to upgrade only the petrol line of its models in the portfolio, essentially not offering a diesel option at all.
Many doubted that move back then but Maruti Suzuki had stated the cost of upgrading a diesel engine, which by the way is higher than upgrading petrol, to the be the reason to not continue diesel into the era of stricter emission norms.
But, they did, however, mention back then that a surging demand for diesel could make them ponder to overturn their decision, and that’s what has happened. Their aggressive CNG strategy and the Calculate Kiya kya initiative were all efforts to push their petrol and CNG models. But, in a country like India, diesel has played a huge role in personal mobility and although the future looks green and electric, diesels are irreplaceable, at least in the foreseeable near future. All that has combined Maruti Suzuki to overturn their decision and bring back the 1.5L DDiS back. Another part of the reason might also include the success of other OEMs on their diesel cars. Impressive sales figures for brands like Tata, Mahindra, Kia, Hyundai all suggest diesel power hasn’t lost its charm, and Maruti indeed took note of it.
On the mechanical front, the 1.5L Diesel belted out 95PS of power and 225Nm of torque and was mated to a 6-speed manual transmission. We don’t have the official output figures yet, but it is expected to remain more or less the same including the drivetrain.
The 1.5L DDiS was introduced in 2018. Until then, Maruti used the 1.3L diesel from fiat to power its cars. The BS6 compliant 1.5L diesel is expected to sit under the hood of the Ertiga and the Brezza first up, with many suggesting it could soon be found in an XL6 and Ciaz too. Despite offering only petrol and CNG, Maruti was still miles ahead of the competition. With the diesel back, what do you think will be the effect on the Market?