From today onwards, the phones at Maruti dealerships in India will not stop ringing; the reason, this India based carmaker had finally launched the car which everyone was waiting for – the Celrerio diesel.
Interesting part of the car is not its running cost or the nation’s highest fuel-economy. It is the 793cc diesel engine which the maker had developed in-house in the history of nearly 63 years. Yes, till date the carmaker was dependent on others for diesel engine, like Fiat Multijet to name as of now. But with the launch of its own unit in the market, it has claimed a stake at the first sight and secured a top position in the list of cars with maximum fuel-economy (as per ARAI) by dethroning Ciaz. The famous sources of industry say return of 27.62kms from a single litre of diesel is due to its light weight structure which tips the scale at 900kgs.
Thus, the Celerio is nothing new except for the changes in its drivetrain and a badge of DDiS 125. Even on variant side it too stood same as of the petrol version, except that mid-trim VDi buyer will now get to enjoy the benefit of ABS which was available with top-end ZDi earlier in petrol.
The 793cc diesel engine, at 89 kg is India’s lightest, had seen an investment of Rs 900 crore, which by the car’s positioning it seems the return on investment will easily manage to escape the balance sheet with Maruti touching the roof of sales every month. However, some shaky bits also remain in the hood of Celerio diesel, where the first comes is its two-cylinder, whereas the other is its power output of 47bhp. Given that, the torque of 125Nm covers up all glitches and niggles faced due to the shortened power output.
At the moment, a five-speed manual transmission is only available on sale. The rumours of AMT equipped version is still not decided for the production.
Hence, Celerio isn’t the only compact car in India with a diesel option. Chevrolet Beat and Hyundai Grand i10 are there since long back.
- Following is the price list of Celerio diesel ex-showroom, Delhi:
- Celerio LDi – Rs. 4.65 lakh
- Celerio VDi – Rs. 4.95 lakh
- Celerio ZDi – Rs. 5.25 lakh
- Celerio ZDi (O) – Rs. 5.71 lakh
