While Maruti Suzuki has officially announced that they will discontinue the diesel engines, a few other manufacturers will follow the same route
The Indian government has made it mandatory for all the manufacturers to sell only BS6 compliant cars in the Indian market from 1st April 2020. Maruti Suzuki, India’s biggest manufacturer of vehicles, has officially announced that they will not offer diesel-powered cars in the market.
Apart from Maruti Suzuki, other prominent manufacturers will follow the same route and will offer any petrol-powered cars in the Indian market when the norms are implemented in the market. While upgrading the petrol engines to the new, stricter norms are relatively easy and require a lesser amount of investment and work, the diesel engines being more complex require a lot more effort.
Also, a lot of investment is needed to upgrade the diesel engines when compared to the petrol ones. This, in turn, will increase the price of the diesel vehicles substantially. This is the main reason behind dropping the diesel engine from the line-up. Here are ten cars which are currently available with diesel engines and will get only petrol engines in the future.
1. Maruti Suzuki Ciaz
The Maruti Suzuki Ciaz facelift was launched last year in the Indian market, and Maruti Suzuki took the opportunity to introduce the all-new 1.5-litre diesel engine developed in-house by the brand. The Ciaz diesel is currently the most fuel-efficient vehicle in the segment. However, Maruti Suzuki will stop the production of the diesel-powered Ciaz in the market from next year.
2. Maruti Suzuki Swift
The Maruti Suzuki Swift is available with the 1.3-litre DDiS engine, which is a rebagded Fiat Multijet engine used in various cars in India. It is an extremely frugal and dependable engine. However, since the engine is quite old, there is no way to upgrading it to the BS6 standards.
Fiat will officially discontinue the engine when the new emission norms are implemented, bringing an end to an era. Maruti Suzuki will launch CNG version of the Swift to fill the void created by the absence of the 1.3-litre diesel engine in the Swift.
3. Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza
The Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, which has been on sale in the Indian market for a long time now has been at the top of the sales chart. However, it has been outsold by the all-new Hyundai Venue.
Since the launch of the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, the rumour of launching a petrol-powered Vitara Brezza has been going around in the market, but it has not seen daylight yet. However, soon Maruti Suzuki will launch the Vitara Brezza will get the 1.5-litre petrol engine that powers the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga and Maruti Suzuki Ciaz.
4. Maruti Suzuki S-Cross
The Maruti Suzuki S-Cross is the most expensive crossover available through the Nexa dealership network. The S-Cross was initially launched with the 1.3-litre diesel engine and the 1.6-litre diesel engine options.
However, with the facelifted version of the S-Cross, the 1.6-litre diesel engine was discontinued. Currently, it is only available with the 1.3-litre engine with SHVS mild-hybrid system. However, just like the Vitara Brezza, the S-Cross will get the 1.5-litre petrol engine.
5. Maruti Suzuki Ertiga
The Maruti Suzuki Ertiga is currently available with three engine options – 1.3-litre diesel, 1.5-litre diesel and 1.3-litre diesel engine option. Maruti Suzuki recently launched the CNG version of the car in the market too. Soon, it will be only available with the 1.5-litre petrol engine. Maruti will also continue to offer the CNG option in the market.
6. Maruti Suzuki Baleno
Maruti Suzuki got back the “Baleno” moniker in the Indian market after a long time. The all-new Baleno became the first premium hatchback from the brand, and currently, it is also the best-selling vehicle in the segment. Baleno is also available with the 1.3-litre diesel engine option along with the 1.4-litre petrol engine. However, in the coming times, the Baleno will only be available with the petrol engine.
7. Nissan Kicks
Nissan launched the all-new Kicks in the Indian market earlier this year. However, too much competition in the segment has not allowed the Kicks to become a popular car in the segment. The Kicks is available with 1.5-litre petrol and 1.5-litre DCi diesel engine. Nissan is not planning to upgrade the diesel engine of the vehicle and make it BS6 compliant, which is why it will be discontinued from the market.
8. Maruti Suzuki Dzire
Maruti Suzuki launched the all-new Dzire, which became so popular in the Indian market that it even became the best-selling vehicle in the market for a few months. However, just like the Swift, the diesel variants of the Dzire will be discontinued the BS6 implementation in the market.
9. Renault Captur
Renault launched the all-new Captur, and it is currently the most expensive vehicle from the French manufacturer in the Indian market. The all-new Captur gets the same platform as the Duster and even gets powered by the same engine options. However, it will not get the diesel engine option after the BS6 implementation. Renault has confirmed the same exclusively to us during the launch of the Triber.
10. Renault Duster
The Duster became a grand success for the brand when it was launched in the Indian market. However, over time, the massive competition has ensured that the vehicle is not as popular as it used to be.
Recently, Renault launched the new facelifted version of the car, and it is currently available with both petrol and diesel engine options. It gets the extremely reliable 1.5-litre DCI engine that powers the Captur and the Kicks too. However, the engine will not survive the BS6 implementation in India.