Maruti Suzuki earlier announced to discontinue the diesel engines from all its model to honour the upcoming BS-VI emission norms.
As BS-VI emission norms set to become a mandate for all vehicles being sold in India from April 1, 2020, Maruti Suzuki is on its way to axe almost all of its diesel-engine powered cars.
This is because most of their diesel cars use the Fiat-sourced 1.3-litre DDiS diesel engine which as per the company does not make a good business case to update to BS-VI standard as it would have resulted in cars getting dearer by about Rs 1.5 lakh on their ex-showroom price. This would have resulted in a decline in sales and given the investments it would have taken to update this unit, perhaps it is best to kill it off.
As part of this, the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga variants that used the 1.3-litre DDiS engine have been axed. The discontinued 1.3-litre DDiS diesel engine-powered variants of the Ertiga will instead be replaced with only the new 1.5-litre diesel engine option, along with the already existing petrol engine. The new in-house 1.5-litre diesel engine also powers the Ciaz sedan.
This engine has been doing duty in the Ertiga since its inception back in April 2012 and also in several other Maruti Suzuki cars wherein it was available in two state of tunes – 75hp with 190Nm torque and 90hp with 200Nm torque.
As of now, if you want a Maruti Suzuki Ertiga with a diesel engine, it is being offered with the 1.5-litre unit that makes 95 hp and comes with a 6-speed manual gearbox. While this engine too will be discontinued by April 1, 2020 when the BS-VI emission norms kick in, a latest report reveals that Maruti Suzuki might continue to offer the 1.5-litre diesel engine in select cars.
If Maruti Suzuki retains the 1.5-litre diesel, they have to make it BS-VI compliant and it will power the updated Vitara Brezza and S-Cross. As for the petrol engine, the BS-VI compliant variant of the Ertiga has already been launched by Maruti Suzuki at Rs 7.55 lakh which is powered by a 1.5-litre unit.