There has been an uproar all over the fuel price. Although in the past, the central government has given great relief to the customers by reducing the excise duty on petrol-diesel, but despite this, the price of petrol is still above a century in many parts of the country. Keeping in view the fuel price, Maruti Suzuki is now planning to further expand its CNG vehicle portfolio.
Recently, the company’s Senior Executive Director – Sales and Marketing, Shashank Srivastava had said in his statement to the media that, the company expects its CNG car sales to almost double from this financial year 2020-21. Indian customers are very sensitive about improving the cost of their cars. “This is where the demand for CNG cars is high,” he said. He said that “sales of CNG cars are also increasing as new cities are being added to the CNG gas distribution network. There was a time when there were only 1,400 CNG filling stations in the country, now this figure has crossed the 3,300 mark and It is expected to touch the 8,700 mark in the next 1.5 years.” By 2025, this figure may touch the 10,000 mark.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) has sold around 1.62 lakh CNG cars in the last financial year. Due to the increase in fuel price, the consumer’s trend has increased rapidly towards CNG. At present, the company’s CNG portfolio comprises six models, from the Alto hatchback to MPV cars like the Ertiga. Now the company is preparing to launch CNG variants of some of its selected models like Swift, Dzire and Brezza, so let’s know about these upcoming CNG cars-
1)- Maruti Swift and Dzire CNG:
Maruti Suzuki is testing the CNG variant of the subcompact sedan DZire and the popular hatchback car Swift. Recently these cars were also spotted. Dualjet K12C petrol engine of 1.2 liters capacity has been used in this new model. Which will come with the company fitted CNG kit. It is being told that when run only in petrol mode, this engine generates power of 82bhp and torque of 113Nm. Whereas in CNG mode, this engine generates power of 70bhp and torque of 95Nm.
2)- Maruti Brezza CNG:
Maruti Brezza has always been in demand in the compact sport utility vehicle (SUV) segment. Last year, the company discontinued its diesel variant, currently it is available in the market only with the petrol engine. Now the company is preparing to introduce its CNG variant. Its details have already been leaked on the internet, according to which the company fitted CNG kit is being used with the 1.5 liter K15B petrol engine.
According to the leaked documents, the engine of its CNG variant generates power of 91bhp and torque of 122Nm. Whereas the regular petrol model generates power of 103bhp and torque of 138Nm. This engine comes mated to a 5-speed manual transmission gearbox, apart from ECU and intelligent injection system. Even though its power has reduced, but the CNG variant will be much better in terms of mileage.
3)- Maruti Celerio CNG:
Recently, the company has launched the next generation model of its famous hatchback car Maruti Celerio in the domestic market. Equipped with a very attractive look and new technology, the starting price of this car has been fixed at Rs 4.99 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). At present, this car has been introduced with the K12N petrol engine of 1.2-litre capacity, soon its CNG variant can also be launched.
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