Maruti Suzuki To Introduce New 1.6-Litre BS-VI Compliant Diesel Engine By Next Year

The all new BS-VI compliant power plant will be sourced from Fiat. The new engine is expected to be powering a whole host of models in the company's line-up. This includes the upcoming Vitara Brezza compact-SUV, S-Cross hatchback, Ertiga and its Nexa counterpart the XL6 MPV.

The upcoming engine had made its debut on the S-Cross model with BS-IV compliance before it was discontinued due to low sales and lower the price of the facelift model. The 1.6-litre BS-IV engine churned out 118bhp and 320Nm of torque. The engine came paired with a manual six-speed gearbox. We expect the power and torque outputs to remain the same after becoming BS-VI compliant.

The company began introducing BS-VI petrol engines across its range of models from April 2019. The first one to achieve BS-VI compliance from the company was the Baleno hatchback. The 1.2-litre DualJet petrol engine powering the hatchback was the first BS-VI compliant engine from the company.

This was followed up by Wagon R, Swift and Dzire achieving BS-VI compliance well before the deadline. The recent model to join the BS-VI line-up from Maruti Suzuki are the Ertiga and its recently launched Nexa counterpart the XL6 MPV. The newly launched S-Presso tall-riding hatchback is also a BS-VI compliant vehicle as well.

The company had announced earlier that they will be discontinuing its diesel engines. This is due to the additional costs needed for research and development to achieve BS-VI compliance. The extra costs will not let the auto manufacturer to price their models aggressively as well.

However, with the growing demand for SUVs in India, Maruti cannot afford to miss out on the opportunity to offer their customers with conventional powertrain options. Hence, they might have decided to enter the market with a bigger capacity diesel engine to target a wider audience and to retain their existing customers as well.

The S-Cross and Vitara Brezza will soon be introduced with the 1.5-litre BSVI SHVS petrol engine that is already employed in the Ertiga and XL6. However, the 1.3-litre diesel engine will be discontinued and will not be carried forward to make it BS-VI compliant.

The deadline for the new upcoming stricter BS-VI emission norms is set to April 1, 2020. We have compiled a list of BS-VI cars that are currently available in the Indian market — here are more details.

Thoughts About The Maruti Suzuki To Introduce New 1.6-Litre BS-VI Diesel Engine

Well well, looks like Maruti fooled the lot of us with statements of ‘no diesel BS-VI engines anytime soon'. With the growing demand for BS-VI compliant diesel engine, the company might just caved and decided to introduce a new engine. However, the company has also stated that they would launch BS-VI diesel variants, if the market demanded it.