The Eeco currently stands in place of the Omni and is facing huge demands; expected to get BSVI compliant petrol engine soon
Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) introduced the 2019 Eeco in the early stages of April with a starting price of Rs. 3.55 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). With the legendary Omni out of the way after being in the business for more than three and a half decades, the Eeco has big shoes to fill and its production has ramped up to meet the demands.
As Omni’s sales were down to just 1,395 units due to the discontinuation, the Eeco made mends with 37 per cent YoY sales increase in April 2019 as 10,254 units were retailed against 7,475 units during the same month last year. The latest Eeco costs around Rs. 23,000 dearer than the previous model due to the addition of new safety features.
The 2019 Maruti Suzuki Eeco has gained features like driver side airbag, ABS (Anti-lock Braking System), driver and co-driver seatbelt reminder, high-speed warning and reversing sensors this time around as standard due to the July 2019 deadline for improved safety equipment on board right from the base variants.
The Eeco has been on sale since 2010 and it replaced the Versa. Underpinned by the Versa’s architecture, the Eeco currently uses a 1.2-litre inline four-cylinder petrol engine kicking out 73 bhp at 6,000 rpm and 101 Nm of maximum torque delivered at 3,000 rpm. It is also available with a factory-fitted CNG kit, which is claimed capable of 16.2 km/kg mileage in the five-seater version.
A seven-seat can also be bought but is sold only in a single variant. The Eeco will live on past the October 2019 deadline for BNVSAP crash test regulations but to comply with the stringent BSVI emission regulations, the 1.2-litre petrol engine has to be upgraded and it looks like the process has commenced already.
The spied test mule indicates that the CNG version of the Eeco is currently being put through its paces ahead of entering the market officially in the coming months. Maruti Suzuki has been updating its domestic fleet since the beginning of this year and just over two weeks ago the 1.2-litre Dualjet petrol in Baleno and 796 cc three-cylinder petrol in Alto 800 achieved BSVI compliance.