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Maruti to step up diesel engine production capacity sensing the rise in demand

There was a time when petrol cars in India were the best selling cars but there is a paradigm shift now and the share of diesel cars in overall car sales in India has increased considerably. Sensing this, Maruti may boost the diesel engine production for its best selling cars such as Maruti Swift and Maruti Swift Dzire. Notably, the car maker is currently getting the 1.3 L multijet engines from Fiat India which will be supplying one lakh diesel engines to Maruti every year for three years starting this year. The boost in the diesel engine production capacity will not only make Maruti independent, it will also help it reduce the input costs. As per the reports, the diesel engine capacity will be taken further up to the initial target of per annum production 7 lakh engines. This target will be achieved in the next two years and then all Maruti cars will have its own diesel engines.

Presently, Maruti has a diesel engine production capacity of over 3 lakh engines and it is getting 1 lakh engines from Fiat but the demand of diesel cars will take a further up swing as the petrol prices are soon to increase in the near future. Also, there seems to be no provision of petrol prices coming to the Rs 30 – Rs 40 level ever again. In addition to this, diesel prices will also rise but there will only be a marginal increase in price of diesel and it could be Rs 3 to Rs 4 per litre in the near future.

Meanwhile, the production of Swift and Swift Dzire is fast catching up pace at the Manesar plant and the company hopes to run the plant at full swing in a fortnight. The diesel engine production plans will also help Maruti think of experimenting diesel engine in some of its best selling cars such as Maruti Alto and Maruti Wagon R besides the upcoming new Maruti 800.