[Screwdriva]

I'm expecting MUL to pivot towards electric vehicles in a big way. Once the Wagon R EV is launched, the country will start embracing electric vehicles en mass.

[fz_rider]

Is there any press release available from Maruti ? I'm unable to find any, only articles from different websites are available. Also, the article are highly speculative in nature. If they intended to shut down, why 1.5D now? That's a big question. And almost 25% of sales to forego doesn't appear sensible.
I guess its all speculation, and what they actually meant is they won't be manufacturing 1.3 Ddis or less.

[nishsingh]

Reading the articles quoted (And other available on the internet), I dont think there is any ambiguity in Maruti's statement. They do seem to be stopping all diesels in their line-up including the 1.5 L diesel. (They say they might revisit their decision on the 1.5L diesel later).

I think between the BS-VI regulations and the Green Tribunal pressures, diesel engines are bound to die out. Maruti is simply the first to pull the plug on diesel engines, as will all car makers sooner or later.

Even in death, Maruti is a pioneer.

[landcruiser123]

The title is misleading. RC Bhargava clearly says the brand will surely stop selling small diesels. And he doesn't make a commitment for the 1.5, but he very well knows that the tech is ready and can be implemented in a short time.

I think cars <4m (except Brezza and a Dzire tour?) will lose out on diesel versions. There is still going to be a demand for a Ciaz, Ertiga diesel.

[hemanth.anand]

As expected, price is the biggest factor and it makes sense to me...especially in the small car segment. Nobody would pay a significantly higher price for a BS6 Swift in comparison to a BS4 Swift. Imagine if the difference to around 2 lakhs between a Swift ZXI and a Swift ZDI for example.

Even for the 1.5 MSIL is playing a waiting game I feel. Although it's in more expensive cars like the Ertiga and Ciaz, Maruti would find few takers if the prices of those cars also increase significantly.

Explaining the reason for the company's decision to phase out diesel cars, R. C. Bhargava, Chairman Maruti Suzuki India said, "Any vehicle is phased out if the assessment is that it will not sell. The conversion cost of a BS4 to BS6 diesel car has a certain amount of money involved, which is quite significant. If you do that on a small diesel car, the percentage increase in the selling price of the car becomes significant. Now the viability of such a car also depends on the relative prices of petrol and diesel. If the gap between the two is large then customers will pay a higher price for a diesel vehicle, because overall it works out. But, if the gap between petrol and diesel is small, then it doesn't work unless you drive 5000 km a month which very few people do. So today the gap is very low, and with the price increase which is involved in the conversion to BS6, and the petrol-diesel price, our assessment is it's not going to be a viable product, which customers will buy."

Source

Originally Posted by Lalvaz

They will have to listen to the needs of the consumers or else the consumers will simply shift to another manufacturer who will meet the need.

If it was some other brand, I'd have agreed. It's MSIL and people will not move away from that in our country.
IMO, more than the FAME scheme by the Government, MSIL's entry into EV area will actually lead to Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric vehicles

[superbhikari]

The said news highly misquoted IMO. Check the link - https://auto.ndtv.com/news/maruti-su...ariant-2028482

Maruti Suzuki will discontinue the diesel variant of the Super Carry LCV from April 1 2020.
R.C. Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki said in a press conference, "Our judgement is that a BS6 diesel LCV with a small engine, the cost increase of upgrading it to BS6 is too high and we intend to discontinue the diesel version of this LCV. There will be no diesel on this LCV because we don't think we can meet the cost target for customer requirements of this vehicles. But we will have a petrol and a CNG variant of this vehicle because we think that the petrol and the CNG versions will actually become more economically viable."

Though TOI article states otherwise (mis)quoting the chairman as-
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/69042214.cms

[bhavik.1991]

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com...le26855061.ece

This article states otherwise & I think it's more likely.

[Dr.Mechanic]

It might be to just boost the sales on the Toyota side. Maruti is maybe going to cut down its higher end products like Ciaz, S-Cross, Baleno and Brezza from the Diesel line-up and people in India will automatically be inclined to the diesel ones from Toyota. Otherwise, no point in developing a new BS-VI Alto. Toyota is just going to slap the 1.5L engine into the shared cars after tuning it into BS-VI, which just like already said in the thread, is no rocket science.

[thoma]

And, if at all this is true, expect the government to either ban diesel cars or tax it more or tax the diesel fuel more. Maruti is good at getting government's inside moves better, or vice versa!

[Carma2017]

I can say this with 100% confidence due to my exposure to Suzuki and it's suppliers in Japan - Diesel engines are a NO-GO area due to their high cost post BS VI. In fact this is the estimation of all Japanese OEMs as a united group including Toyota. Their bet is centred on the equality of Cost of running and ownership of a Diesel vis a vis the Hybrids that are coming post BS VI and CAFE norms. Rumour mills here say that the next Innova, Fortuner etc. may infact come with Hybrid package alone.
If TATA, Mahindra etc do manage to make a relatively cheaper Diesel, then maybe things will change. Else Japanese car makers are done with Diesel.

[Leoshashi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjVAqQqAzeo

Key takeaways:

1. All diesel models below 1.3L to be discontinued.

2. 1.5L diesel will be on wait and watch mode.

3. From April 2020, there will be no diesel car from Maruti on sale: RC Bhargava

My take: Maruti WILL find a way to shoehorn the 1.5L diesel in all its models. They cannot let go so much sales. Even if the competition doesn't offer anything, Maruti may have. More models having an engine=more economy of scale. Being a market leader, they can take that risk.

Another video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73EYMn4ercg

Debate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AsNDl59A6A

1. 1.5L may be converted to BS6. End of the road for 1.3L MJD

2. BS6 Petrol Brezza Coming, confirmed by R.C.Bhargava himself.

3. Maruti makes Baleno for Toyota, Toyota will make Brezza for Maruti.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vejeqWzpDHc

[niteshbids]

I have been expecting such news for quite some time. Under current scenario, the initial purchase price difference between petrol and diesels is about 1 lakh. With the new emission norms this gap is set to widen significantly. Couple that with reducing gap in the fuel prices, the market potential for diesels, esp small diesels is going to take a serious hit.

[tarik.arora]

The 1.5 Diesel is here to stay. What that means is, diesel powered Brezza, S Cross, Ciaz, and Ertiga might still continue. So to say, volume risk will drastically reduce from 23% to a much lower number.

The news is unnecessary being sensationalised.

[highlander]

No company will just walk-away from a segment. They are answerable to share-holders on the need to do so, what options were evaluated and what is the proposal to account from probable loss of income.

The diesel only model will continue to exist with the customer bearing some of the additional cost.


It is also possible, that this could be a veiled threat/new requirement to FIAT to develop cheaper 1.3L diesel engine that meets BS-VI that is economically viable or to reduce the cost of an engine if they already have one developed.

Engine development is expensive in that you go through so many iterations before coming up with an end product. I believe Hero and Honda split form each other due to some similar disagreement. Not sure if following article is completely accurate though. https://trak.in/tags/business/2010/1...o-honda-split/

[tarik.arora]

Sorry for the back to back posts. By the time i came up with this thought, editing window was over.

Just read the ET Auto article on this and they have quoted Mr. Bhargava as saying "If you want to buy a Maruti diesel car, now is the time". This statement got me thinking. Are they trying to create a demand pull this year by putting up such sensational statements? It is hard to digest that a player like Maruti will play such cheap tactics but you never know.

I think, this whole thing is being blown out of proportions. Everyone knows that BS-VI is the death bed for small diesel engines. There is no new news here. It's just that when a company that commands half of the market makes a statement, everything unsettles.