Car market leader Maruti Suzuki’s most awarded gasoline K-series engine series crossed the 25 lakh (2.5 million) production milestone early this month. Powering some of the bestselling cars in India like Alto K10, Celerio, Wagon R, Swift, Dzire, Ertiga and Ritz, the K-engine family ushered the era of compact light weight, fuel efficient, next generation gasoline engine technology in India.
The engine made it’s debut in 2008 with the world strategic model A-star. It started an era of light weight compact gasoline engines with high Fuel efficiency and lower emissions. The K-series engine comes in three guises, the K-10 doing duty in the Alto K10, the Celerio and the Wagon R. The K-12 is plonked in the Swift, the Ritz and the DZire, while the K-14 does duty in the Ertiga and will be seen under the hood of the upcoming Ertiga as well.
The K-series engines score high on performance and NVH, while at the same time return excellent efficiency figures coupled with low maintenance.
Speaking on the milestone, Mr C.V Raman, Executive Director, Engineering, Maruti Suzuki said, “The K-series is one of the most refined gasoline engine technologies available in India. It is able to combine best in class fuel efficiency with superior performance. The cars powered by K-series have won customers’ hearts and have become best sellers in their categories”.
On the future outlook, Mr. Raman said, “Engine refinement is an ongoing effort and going forward our new models will incorporate technologies that further enhance the attributes of high Fuel Efficiency, Low Emissions, superior performance and NVH.”
The K-series engine was launched in India in 2008 on the A-star and has progressively been introduced on a wider range of Maruti Suzuki cars.
The K-series is manufactured in state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities. Mr Rajiv Gandhi, Executive Director, (Plants), Maruti Suzuki said, “The K-series engine plant deploys over 500 “foolproofing stations” that ensure that top quality, zero defect engines roll out of the plant.
The K-series engines are an outcome of R&D efforts on stringent design, validation and testing processes. The engine realizes the true spirit of the global design trend of optimizing engine performance through innovative design techniques. In the spirit of Kaizens or continuous improvements, K-series engines have been suitably refined year on year with each model refreshment and new product launch to offer enhanced driveability and higher fuel efficiency.
Key improvements in some of the recent launches such as Swift, DZire, Ertiga & Celerio include;
-Improved Combustion.
-Higher compression ratio
-Reduced mechanical loss / friction
-Optimization of engine control system, etc.
These improvements have ensured that gasoline cars equipped with them top the fuel efficiency charts in respective classes.