[pacman2881]

Some news on Diesel engines developed inhouse by Maruti-

NEW DELHI: The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Monday said it is developing a diesel engine for mid-size sedans, which is likely to be ready by the middle of 2011.

"Currently work is going on for developing a diesel engine for mid-sized sedans. Our engineers are developing it internally and we are hopeful of getting it ready by mid (of) next year," MSI Managing Director and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi told reporters here.

To begin with, the company is likely to utilise the new engine for launching a diesel version of its premium sedan SX4 ,he added.

MSI currently sources diesel engines from Fiat for its three models--Swift, DZiRE and Ritz.

When asked about the company's sales for this month, Nakanishi said,"In October, our domestic sales crossed one lakh units for the first time and we are expecting to do so in this month also."

In October this year, the company sold 107,555 units in the domestic market as compared to 95,148 units in September 2010.

The company's domestic sales for the April to October 2010 period saw a jump of 31.4 per cent at 62,837,8 units, as compared to the same period last year.

"However, it will be difficult to maintain such growth from coming month till March next year as the base was very high last year in the corresponding period," Nakanishi said.

Talking about the company's upcoming second and third production units at its Manesar facility, Nakanishi said, "Opening of the second plant will be preponed by about six months to the end of 2011. We are also trying to advance operations at the third plant, which is scheduled to start in 2013."

The company had announced an investment of over Rs 3,500 crore to expand capacity at the Manesar facility.

At present, MSI, which is 54.2 per cent owned by Suzuki, has an annual capacity of 8.5 lakh units at its Gurgaon plant , while Manesar can produce 3.5 lakh units annually, with the overall capacity totaling to 12 lakh units per year.

He said the company will close down the operations at the Gurgaon and Manesar facilities for annual maintenance work from December 25, 2010 to January 2, 2011.

So VW engine for small cars and bigger inhouse engines for bigger ones? I expect VW's involvement in this development as well!

Source-
Maruti Suzuki working on diesel engine for mid-size sedan - The Economic Times

[GTO]

Suzuki really couldn't have developed a better engine than the 1.2 K series for their small cars; the motor is a true all-rounder. However, I'm not entirely convinced about Suzuki's expertise (or lack of) in diesel engines. They don't have the experience either. When VW has already bought 20% of Suzuki, and diesels is what VW does best, why bother?

Additionally, no one is really buying expensive Suzuki cars....not in India, nor the world over. They should really focus instead on their core competency (i.e. small to midsize segment).

[allinbalance]

There are quite a few guys like me (members of the TBHP comunity) who are actually keenly looking forward to a SX4 class sedan come equipped with a bigger, fast diesel engine. It would be a killer combination - a) Maruti's after sales; b) reasonable price range; c) diesel economy.

Think of it..!!!

[goldie_malhotra]

Originally Posted by allinbalance

There are quite a few guys like me (members of the TBHP comunity) who are actually keenly looking forward to a SX4 class sedan come equipped with a bigger, fast diesel engine. It would be a killer combination - a) Maruti's after sales; b) reasonable price range; c) diesel economy.

Think of it..!!!

I think an SX4 diesel will be priced at par with Verna D. And Verna D already provides all 3 factors above.

[romeomidhun]

IMO, this may be an engine from VW stable. The 'experts' in Maruti (read it as those engineers in Maruti who tuned FIAT multijet engine superbly for Swift and Ritz) may be working on it. Surely, it will have a capacity less than 1500CC for tax-benefit.

[HammerHead]

"Diesel engine for mid-sized sedans" interesting!!
Does that mean they will continue using Fiat's diesel for their 'small' cars?

They do need a bigger diesel engine if they want to review their SUV segment.

[allinbalance]

Originally Posted by goldie_malhotra

I think an SX4 diesel will be priced at par with Verna D. And Verna D already provides all 3 factors above.

But it would certainly be more spacious -- right? I mean Verna D is rather cramped in the back seat, but the interior space of SX4 is pretty ok.

They have to so something about the plastics though -- currently it looks pretty cheap for a 9 lakh car.