Maruti S-CNG technology is currently being offered on the Alto, Celerio, WagonR, S-Presso, Eeco and Ertiga – Soon it will be launched with Swift and Dzire
Ever escalating petrol and diesel prices have taken a toll on fuel budget of car owners in the country. Prices of fuels have reached all time high levels, leaving the middle class literally grappling at straws.
Even as several electric vehicles are marking their entry into the PV segment, charging infrastructure in India is at its nascent stage. The only other worthwhile and affordable alternative is CNG powered vehicles.
Maruti Suzuki has a healthy lineup of CNG powered vehicles in their current portfolio. These include the Alto, Celerio, WagonR, S-Presso, Eeco and Ertiga while the company is actively testing CNG variants of the DZire and Swift. Both these models have been spied on test with an emission testing kit at the rear, drawing some attention to on board features while engine specs also get leaked ahead of launch which is slated for the coming months.
Engine Specs
Leaked document (credit to car.spyshots) reveal that Maruti Swift and Dzire CNG variant will share the same engine lineup. This would include a 1.2 liter Dualjet K12C petrol engine with a CNG kit. The petrol engine delivers 83 PS power and 113 Nm torque. But in CNG mode, the power and torque numbers will be reduced.
In CNG mode, power and torque figures will dip 11 PS and 18 Nm respectively to 72 PS power at 6,000 rpm and 95 Nm torque at 4,000 rpm. The engine will be solely mated to a 5 speed gearbox as Maruti Suzuki does not offer AMT on any of its CNG variants.
Apart from this change, the two model will also miss out on auto start/stop feature seen on the regular DZire and Swift model that play a major role in fuel saving. Maruti Swift and Dzire CNG variants will not receive any other updates either where their exterior or interior makeup is concerned. Factory fitted CNG units allow the warranty to be intact while also offering customers the benefits of lower running costs.
What Maruti Suzuki terms as S-CNG sees suspension, chassis and brakes being tuned to take on added weight of the CNG tank. Maruti has also included Dual Inter-dependent ECU units, a dedicate fuel gauge while all pipes and joints are of stainless steel so as to prevent any leakage or corrosion. Safety switches have also been installed so as to cut off the engine while refilling.
Pricing and Competition
Launch is slated to take place in the coming weeks. As of now no price details have been revealed. However, considering the inclusion of CNG kits, the Swift and DZire could command a premium of Rs 90,000 over its current prices.
As on date, the Swift hatchback retails at Rs 5.81-8.42 lakh while the DZire sedan is priced between Rs 5.98-9.02 lakh (ex-sh). Once launched, the Swift CNG will compete against the Hyundai Grand i10 Nios CNG while the DZire CNG will take on the upcoming Tata Tigor CNG.