Maruti Suzuki Celerio CNG bookings open before official launch

Maruti Suzuki is all set to strengthen its supremacy in the segment of CNG-powered cars by launching the all-new Celerio CNG. The new Maruti Suzuki Celerio CNG will be the carmaker’s first launch for 2022, the bookings of which have already commenced unofficially across its dealer network. According to dealer sources, the new Celerio CNG will arrive officially sometime in January 2022.

The new second-generation Maruti Suzuki Celerio was launched in November 2021, which debuted a completely different design language in and out and an advanced powertrain as compared to the model it replaced. It debuted in India without a CNG-powered variant, though Maruti Suzuki had indicated that such a variant will likely be added shortly, given the rising popularity of CNG-powered cars in India due to rising prices of petrol and diesel.

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The first-gen Maruti Suzuki Celerio was offered a CNG-powered variant, and the new-gen model will follow the suit by offering a factory-fitted CNG kit in its boot compartment. While it will eat the boot space of the car completely, it will offer much lower running costs. The CNG kit will be paired to the new 1.0-litre three-cylinder K10C Dualjet engine of the new Celerio. Currently, this engine makes a maximum power output of 67 bhp and a peak torque output of 89 Nm in the Celerio. However, with the addition of the CNG kit, these figures are likely to drop.

Significant increase in fuel efficiency

What will see a significant increase is its fuel efficiency. Compared to the fuel efficiency figures of 26.68 km/l for AMT variants and 25.24 kmpl for manual variants, the new Celerio CNG is expected to return a higher efficiency. In all likelihood, it will be even higher than the 30.47 km/kg efficiency of the previously available CNG-powered version of first-gen Celerio.

The new Maruti Suzuki Celerio CNG will be the first car, in which the CNG kit will be paired with the new K10C engine. This K10C engine will be plonked in other popular sub-compact hatchbacks like WagonR and S-Presso in the future. The Celerio CNG will be just another addition to the expansive lineup of CNG-powered vehicles from Maruti Suzuki, which includes Eeco, Alto, S-Presso, WagonR and Ertiga.

Like in all the other CNG-powered cars from Maruti Suzuki, the Celerio CNG is expected to be based only on the base-spec LXI variant. However, given the rising popularity of CNG-powered cars, Maruti Suzuki might consider an additional VXI variant for the Celerio CNG. These variants will be slightly more expensive than the currently-available petrol-powered variants of the Celerio.

The new Maruti Suzuki Celerio CNG will compete with other similarly-sized and priced CNG-powered cars like Maruti Suzuki WagonR CNG, Hyundai Santro CNG and the upcoming Tata Tiago CNG. Maruti Suzuki is also considering expanding its CNG-powered lineup by considering such variants for its other cars like the upcoming Brezza, Swift and Dzire. After the Celerio CNG, Maruti Suzuki will be gradually launching its other new offerings planned for 2022, including the heavily updated Baleno, new-generation Brezz and facelifts of Ertiga and XL6.

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