Fiat Stops Production Of 1.3-Litre Multijet Engine: The End Of The Road For India’s Favourite Diesel

Fiat has announced that it has stopped the production its 1.3-litre multijet diesel engine. It is now the end of the road for the well-known engine block that powered no less than 24 popular cars.

Fiat Stops Production Of 1.3-Litre Multijet Engine

On 24 January, 2020, Fiat produced the last 1.3 diesel engine at its Ranjangaon plant. This is big news because of the nature of this engine and the legendary status it carried. The 1.3-litre Multijet is fondly known as the ‘National Engine of India' thanks to the sheer number of cars that use this engine.

Fiat Stops Production Of 1.3-Litre Multijet Engine

Fiat claims, a total of 8,00,048 engines were produced and boy was it a good run. 24 cars from several manufacturers were powered by this engine and some of these cars were extremely popular and some were bestsellers. Hence, the demand for this engine too was extremely high.

Fiat Stops Production Of 1.3-Litre Multijet Engine

Maruti Suzuki badged this engine as DDiS, Chevrolet badged it as Smartech, Tata called it Quadratech, Premier called it CRDi4 and Fiat marketed it as Multijet. It did duties in cars like the Fiat Linea, Fiat Punto, Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, Swift, Ritz, DZire, Vitara Brezza, Chevrolet Beat, etc.

Fiat Stops Production Of 1.3-Litre Multijet Engine

When all this is put together, it is easy to see why it was fondly called the national engine of India. Adding to it all is the reliability and performance of the 4-cylinder unit. The clatter and noise produced by it is unmistakable, the torque it pushes out is just brilliant, and lastly, its efficiency, made it a favourite with everyone.

Fiat Stops Production Of 1.3-Litre Multijet Engine

In-fact it has its own group of enthusiasts who swear by this engine. Well, it appears to have come to an end thanks to the upcoming BS-VI emissions norms Come 01 April 2020, all vehicles on sale in India will have to be BS-VI emissions norms compliant, which simply means cleaner, greener and more efficient engines will be required.

Fiat Stops Production Of 1.3-Litre Multijet Engine

Fiat will not be working on making the 1.3 Multijet BS-VI compliant simply because there is no need for it. Most manufacturers are slowly moving away from diesel engines and some of them have developed their own diesel engines.

Maruti Suzuki for example has developed a 1.5-litre diesel and Tata has developed 1.05-litre and 1.2-litre diesel engines. Maruti Suzuki has also announced that its small cars like the Swift, Dzire and Baleno will continue to be powered by a BS6 petrol engine and diesel variants will be discontinued.

Fiat Stops Production Of 1.3-Litre Multijet Engine

Keeping this in mind, discontinuation of the 1.3 Multijet makes sense. However, Fiat has also announced that supply of spare parts and service support for this legendary engine will continue for 10 more years.

Fiat Stops Production Of 1.3-Litre Multijet Engine

Thoughts On 1.3-Litre Multijet Diesel Engine Being Discontinued

Well, as they say, All good things do come to an end. While we wish that we would have had more of this engine, we are also aware that it is not really possible thanks to stricter emissions norms. Also, it is noteworthy that all car manufacturers are looking at discontinuation of diesel engines very soon.

Most Read Articles

English
Read more on: #fiat
Article Published On: Sunday, January 26, 2020, 9:00 [IST]
Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X