The Maruti Suzuki Ciaz Hybrid is expected to be launched in the first week of September. It will replace the standard model across all diesel variants and is expected to be priced Rs 50,000 over the current car.
While much has been spoken about the Smart Hybrid by Suzuki (SHVS) technology, there has been no clarity until now as to how the driver will actually use the system once the car is launched. We have detailed some of the technology that will be launched with the car.
The technology is a mild-hybrid system and is very simialr to what is offered by Mahindra. This includes regenerative braking and start-stop technology; two welcome additions on our increasingly congested roads. The former is quite well known and basically involves the transfer of energy during braking to the battery, which can be used to run the start-stop technology and assist in the crank action to produce more torque.
The start-stop technology has been dubbed ‘A-Stop’ by the Indo-Japanese automaker. If the system is enabled (Green-yes, Orange-no) and the driver stops at a signal, it will turn off the engine once the car has been put into neutral.
It will keep the engine off for a total of 180 seconds or until the point where the temperature in the cabin has exceeded what was set in the climate control system. Further, it will not allow the car to turn off if the central locking and driver seat belt is not engaged. The car will have an ARAI specified fuel efficiency of 28kmpl and this is expected to drop to a more realistic 20kmpl in city driving conditions.
