Maruti Suzuki, the largest passenger car maker in India, has decided to start manufacturing light commercial vehicles (LCV). The company is already in the process of developing an LCV, which is codenamed as Y9T and will be manufactured at its Gujarat facility. This new vehicle that will come with an all new 2-cylinder 800 cc diesel powertrain will compete with the Tata Ace. The car maker is developing its new range of LCVs at its India Research and Development (R&D) Centre. However, Maruti Suzuki will open the doors of it new R&D centre in Rohtak, next year. The parent company, Suzuki Motor Corp. has been entrusting the Indian R&D centre with the development of models for the local market.
Suzuki Motor Corp. has decided to develop its own range of diesel powertrains for its line up of passenger cars and LCVs. In the past, the Japanese car maker has used the multijet diesel unit manufactured by Fiat, which powers Maruti Suzuki's hatchbacks, Multi Purpose Vehicle (MPV) and sedans. According to the company officials, Maruti Suzuki is developing the 2-cylinder 800 cc powertrain and turbo-charged variant for use in its small cars. The car maker is also planning to extend its diesel powertrain range to three and four cylinder powertrains of the 1.2 and 1.4 litre engines, respectively.
India Managing Director of IHS Automotive Deepesh Rathore, says, “I think Maruti would definitely need to look beyond Fiat for the diesel engines.” Another senior executive quoted, “Bigger engines also cannot be ruled out, but there is nothing crystallised at the moment.”
According to industry experts, the foray into the diesel powertrain and LCV segments will boost the growth prospects of Maruti Suzuki in the competitive Indian auto market. The 0.75-1 tonne pick-up vehicle feature among the most popular segments in the country with an annual growth rate of more than 15 to 20 per cent over last five years. With its new Y9T, Maruti Suzuki is targeting this very segment.
