Maruti Suzuki India Limited has increased the prices of the Swift hatchback and CNG vehicles. The prices of the vehicles been increased by up to Rs. 15,000. The new prices are effective from 12th July.
The reason for increasing the prices have been stated as a rise in the input costs. So, the price has been increased to offset the increase in input costs.
Before the prices were hiked, the prices of the Swift started at Rs. 5.73 lakhs ex-showroom and went up to Rs. 8.41 lakhs ex-showroom. Maruti Suzuki has the largest range of CNG vehicles. The range kicks off with Alto which is the cheapest CNG vehicle priced at Rs. 4.56 lakhs ex-showroom.
Then there a CNG variant of the S-Presso micro-SUV, priced at Rs. 4.96 lakhs ex-showroom. The Maruti Suzuki WagonR also gets an S-CNG variant at Rs. 5.60 lakhs ex-showroom.
There is also the Celerio whose CNG variant is priced at Rs. 5.85 lakhs ex-showroom. Maruti Suzuki is working on a new generation of the Celerio which will be launching soon in the Indian market. People carrier, Eeco also gets a CNG version that is sold for Rs. 5.29 lakhs ex-showroom and is offered only as a 5-seater. Finally, there is the Ertiga which might be the most famous CNG vehicle.
The CNG variant of the Ertiga is priced at Rs. 9.36 lakhs ex-showroom. Ertiga is a 7-seater vehicle best suited for family and for commercial use.
Maruti Suzuki Dzire
The Dzire is the best selling compact sedan in the Indian market. Recently, a Dzire with an emission testing kit was spied. Also, the rear suspension of the vehicle was bogged down, indicating heavyweight in the boot. It should be safe to assume that the boot of the Dzire had a CNG tank.Â
The CNG tank would eat up into the boot space. The stock boot space of the Dzire is 378-litres which would be decreased quite a bit with a full-size CNG tank in the boot.
The Dzire CNG is expected to launch in the Indian market in January’22. It will not come with the new 1.2-litre DualJet petrol engine. It will be using the old VVT 1.2-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine that produces 83 PS of max power and 113 Nm of peak torque.
It would be offered only with a 5-speed manual gearbox. While running on CNG there would be a drop in power and torque figures.
S-CNG
Maruti Suzuki says that they tune the CNG vehicles differently because they have added weight. So, we expect that the Dzire would also go under the same procedure. So, the manufacturer would work on the braking system, retune the suspension and chassis to handle the added weight. They would also be crash testing the vehicle with a CNG tank installed.
Other CNG vehicles
Hyundai offers the Aura, Santro and the Grand i10 with a factory-fitted CNG option. Aura is a direct competitor to the Dzire. Tata Motors is also working on Tiago and Tigor’s CNG variants. Both of them have been spied on a CNG station. Also, recently a Tiago with an emission testing kit was spied which could be the CNG variant.
