[pgsagar]

I remember in early 2000s when Wagon R and Santro went shoulder to shoulder, every magazine chose Santro over wagon R as better car. But today, Santro is almost extinct whereas Wagon R is second best selling after Alto. So much for these auto magazines and their analysis! Personally, I neither hate Wagon R nor like but there is something about this car which has made it such a big hit. Addition of diesel will set the market on fire. MUL, please add an A gear-box ,too, and make this India's first diesel AT hatch. THAT will be truly revolutionary.

[Mr.Beat]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

I remember in early 2000s when Wagon R and Santro went shoulder to shoulder, every magazine chose Santro over wagon R as better car. But today, Santro is almost extinct whereas Wagon R is second best selling after Alto. So much for these auto magazines and their analysis! Personally, I neither hate Wagon R nor like but there is something about this car which has made it such a big hit. Addition of diesel will set the market on fire. MUL, please add an A gear-box ,too, and make this India's first diesel AT hatch. THAT will be truly revolutionary.

I would agree with what the magazines had to say. Santro is definetly a better car to drive than Wagaon R. If you compare today, the Wagaon R is selling more mostly because MUL has not planned any successor for it and has been selling it whole heartedly. However with Hyundai the i10 was definetly attractive than Santro and thus ate up the sales of Santro.

Wagaon R 1.o Litre Diesel would be a amazing car, however more than anything it would destory the sales of the petrol Wagaon R. The overall sales may increase but considering the investment and R&D it may not be worth it for MUL. I don't see them doing that to a 12,000 pm car, just the way Hyundai is doing it for i10.

[ACM]

Yep this will imply long wait periods.
This could be a diesel made in the TATA-FIAT JV Plant.
May or may not be similar to the 3 cylinder version that GM developed for the Beat.
Beat Diesel could still be cheaper than the Wagon R diesel, we need to wait and see.
Timelines about when in 2012 need to be checked.
The Beat diesel is a better vehicle but Wagon R diesel will do better.

[romeomidhun]

IMO, they have to launch Diesel models for their least selling cars in India - AStar and Estilo, and not for a hit car like WR. Just like how Diesel Swift spoiled the Petrol Swift's party, the sales of their Petrol WR will definitely go down to half of the current level.

[anu21v]

Originally Posted by ACM

Yep this will imply long wait periods.
This could be a diesel made in the TATA-FIAT JV Plant.
May or may not be similar to the 3 cylinder version that GM developed for the Beat.
Beat Diesel could still be cheaper than the Wagon R diesel, we need to wait and see.
Timelines about when in 2012 need to be checked.
The Beat diesel is a better vehicle but Wagon R diesel will do better.

I don't know the veracity of this news, but on the face of it , this engine looks like entirely new avataar altogether which has nothing to do with 1.3 SDE engine. My understanding of engines is it takes atleast 5-7 years to develop an engine and almost 4-5 years to even chop off that 1 cylinder. So fiat can not simply provide that one litre engine straight up at maruti's demand. Although considering the 1.3 MJD (SDE) engine was created in 2004-05, it is quite possible Fiat engineers were deployed on a new class of engines , which might be an altogether different technically from the current gen 1.3 or 1.0L GM Engine.

Since the engine designing is the longest time taking activity in a car launch; Looking at the mentioned timeline of launching in 2012, it leaves me no doubt that this is the same 1.0L engine being used in Chevy Beat currently , which surely has been on offer to Fiat/Maruti by GM. also even though with smaller chance it is still possible that FIAT owns the right to this 1.0L engine GM developed technology just like the original Fiat developed 1.3L SDE's technology is owned by GM.

Good time for Indian customer in any case, I am just hoping government doesn't reverses its fuel policy in the meantime

[ankurvirmani19]

Came across specifications, I think these may be the closest to the actual product.

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by ankurvirmani19

Came across specifications, I think these may be the closest to the actual product.

Looks promising,basically a Vxi trim Wagon R with a diesel engine.Can you highlight the source of this information?

[DCEite]

My grouse with current petrol WR is the lack of low end grunt.
Hopefully diesel WR will be as good to drive as the Beat diesel, and it would make for a very capable city car.

But yes, it would be the mother of all waiting periods.

[amtak]

Wagon R diesel is nice. But I feel Estilo Diesel is the need of the hour. It would do wonders to the sales of that cute car.

[georgev]

Originally Posted by amtak

Wagon R diesel is nice. But I feel Estilo Diesel is the need of the hour. It would do wonders to the sales of that cute car.

+1
Estilo is much better looking "car", need a lil more boot space i guess, petrol lacks low end big time

[drsnt]

Originally Posted by georgev

+1
Estilo is much better looking "car", need a lil more boot space i guess, petrol lacks low end big time

i do not agree with you on K10 lacking low end torque to severly hamper the driveability. i had the problem when the engine was new and it used to have problems with being low in power, had to change to 1gear every time on speed breaker but 10k now the engine has improved a lot and it comfortable climbs speed breakers even in 2nd gear with AC.

[aniketi]

Can i book mine now? So that i can get the delivery when it is launched?

On serious note, its a terrific move. They should launch it as early as possible. With Maruti brand name, proven product & Diesel heart i guess it can sell more than 20K + cars per month. They should make it fast, better the sooner. Other cars manufacturer may also bring there products to compete with it. Maruti suffered with SX4, if they would have bought it 2 years earlier, today it would have different story. At least they should have sold 50-60 K more SX4 till date.

So what FE we can expect? 25+ on highways? Best of luck Maruti

[georgev]

wish toyota and others launch a product similar to Estilo/wagon r both in diesel and petrol with slightly more space

[2cents]

Some weeks back they said they won't change their strategy towards diesel, just because of the differential in fuel prices. And now, when there is news doing rounds that the budget may increase duty on diesel cars to compensate for fuel subsidy on diesel, comes this. I doubt Maruti will actually go ahead and launch this or similar products.

[Ym-enjn]

Any updates on this one. 1Q of 2012 is over and the budget is also out. Hope they plan to introduce AT along with Diesel in one variant at least.. I guess that would be asking for too much but A-Star already have the AT for a 1L engine so they can use that in this.