Maruti Suzuki developing an all-new 1.0-litre turbo petrol engine

Maruti Suzuki is on its way to introduce an all-new small capacity engine to power its new hatchback. With the capacity pegged at 1.0-litre, the engine will be a direct injected, turbocharged unit and will be versatile enough to cater to multiple segments.

Having surpassed its expectations with the AMT transmission in the Celerio, which is currently outselling its manual counterpart, Maruti Suzuki is set to join the bandwagon of leading carmakers, who have been developing versatile small capacity turbocharged engines. Codenamed K10C (the current Celerio is powered by K10B), the new engine will produce around 90bhp and will mostly be used in the company’s upcoming YRA premium hatchback. This car will be placed a segment above the Swift and is expected to hit our roads by end of 2015.

As the engine will also be exported to European markets, the engine will be designed keeping the strict emission and efficiency regulations in mind. Unlike in India, emission figures have a considerable impact on the insurance group and cost of the car which subsequently affects people’s buying decisions. A growing number of manufacturers have been developing low-capacity turbocharged engines in pursuit of better emission and efficiency figures. Ford did this with its EcoBoost engines, Volkswagen with the EA211, GM with the Ecotec family and our very own Tata with the Revotron engine.

Maruti announced last week that it has halted the export of its car to European market for the next 18 months, due to lagging demand. The new YRA hatchback will be a global car for Suzuki and will be ready by the time exports are resumed. While Maruti Suzuki still is by far India’s leading manufacturer, the same cannot be said about Suzuki’s other markets and the new hatchback will be handed the responsibility of reinforcing the Japanese manufacturer’s hold in the global markets.