Premier Rio Gets Fiat's Multiget 72bhp Engine

Updated: Tuesday, July 31, 2012, 13:41 [IST]

We had earlier written about the Premier Rio compact SUV getting a fiat diesel engine. Premier Limited has now confirmed that it will soon be using Fiat's multijet diesel engine to power the Rio. Premier has made some modifications to the engine and here are the specifications.

The Premier Rio's Fiat engine will deliver peak power of 72bhp and torque of 183Nm. The power output has been slightly brought down to suit the compact SUV. Fiat's multijet diesel engine has been praised across the globe for its efficient performance and we can now see the same in the Rio too.

Fiat India who will be supplying the diesel engines to Premier already has an engine supplying contract with Maruti Suzuki. Fiat's multijet diesel engines are now available in the Maruti Suzuki's Swift, Swift DZire and the Ertiga MPV. Tata Motors also uses Fiat's engines in its Indica, Indigo and Indigo Manza.

The Premier Rio is India's first compact SUV and measures less than four metres in length. It is currently available with a BS3 compliant diesel engine while the Fiat's engine will be BS4 compliant. The Premier Rio with the Fiat engine is expected to be priced about Rs.60,000 above the BS3 variant. There will not be any other changes in the new Rio apart from the Fiat engine.

The current Premier Rio is available with a BS4 compliant petrol engine too. The launch of the BS4 compliant Rio will mean we will get to see more of the compact SUV in India metros. The Rio has not been able to very successful but the arrival of the new Fiat engine might improve its fortunes. Premier is planning to improve the Rio's safety features by adding ABS and EBD in the top end variant.

The Premier Rio remains India's only compact SUV. However it might not be the same for long as other carmakers are also planning to launch such models. The first one could be the mini Xylo from Mahindra late this year followed by Ford's EcoSport.