Scoop! Maruti to retain 1.5L diesel; discontinue 1.3L diesel

Thanks to the Team-BHP fan (he prefers to remain anonymous) who sent this information in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this page! 

Maruti Suzuki is set to discontinue the 1.3-litre diesel engine, but will retain its newly developed 1.5-litre diesel unit. The company will no longer offer diesel engines in its small cars. However, its larger models will continue to get diesel engine options.

Production of the 1.3-litre diesel unit has already been reduced and will be gradually shut down in Q4 2019 or Q1 2020. As reported earlier, the Fiat-sourced 1.3-litre unit will be replaced by the 1.5-litre engine in the Ciaz & S-Cross. The Ertiga and Vitara Brezza could also get this engine.

Maruti has developed the 1.5-litre, 4-cylinder DDiS 225 diesel engine in-house. The engine was designed keeping BS-VI compliance in mind. 

This week, there were rumours that Maruti Suzuki will be phasing out all of its diesel cars by April 1, 2020. But, these were not true. Maruti was looking to end diesels in end-2018, but seeing the loss of revenue, backtracked on its decision. The company has just started BS-VI development and the entire process of calibration and validation could take some time to complete. Therefore, Maruti is expected to be 9-10 months late in bringing the 1.5L BS-VI diesel engine to the market and might miss the April 2020 deadline.

While diesel has gotten a bad name, it still accounts for 20-40% of many Maruti models (and 100% in the case of the Vitara Brezza & S-Cross). Maruti Suzuki isn't going to give up lakhs of customers every year, when Hyundai and other brands are likely to offer BS-VI diesels in their products. Maruti isn't one to give others a competitive advantage.