Maruti Suzuki S-Cross Petrol Hybrid to be launched soon

Maruti Suzuki announced that they will not offer diesel cars in the Indian market from April 1, 2020. The manufacturer currently has a few model diesel-powered vehicles in the market but a few models like the Maruti Suzuki S-Cross and the Vitara Brezza only offer diesel engines at the moment. All other vehicles from the brand get petrol engines too. Maruti Suzuki will now launch the petrol variant of the S-Cross in the coming months before the diesel engines are stopped by the manufacturer.

Maruti Suzuki initially launched with a 1.3-litre diesel engine and 1.6-litre diesel engine in the Indian market. However, when the facelifted version of the premium crossover was launched in 2017, Maruti dropped the 1.6-litre diesel engine to only offer 1.3-litre Multijet diesel engine in the Indian market. Currently, only the 1.3-litre diesel engine with SHVS mild hybrid system is available in the market.

Soon Maruti Suzuki will also launch the S-Cross powered by the all-new 1.5-litre diesel engine that debuted recently in the Indian market with the Ciaz sedan. However, this variant may not be in production when the BS-VI emission norms. With the 1.3-litre diesel engine on its way out too, Maruti Suzuki will start offering the 1.5-litre all-new K15B petrol engine that currently powers the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz and the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga according to ACI.

Both Ertiga and the Ciaz powered by the new 1.5-litre petrol engine get the Smart Hybrid Vehicle by Suzuki (SHVS) mild hybrid system and the same can be expected in the upcoming petrol powered S-Cross too. The mild hybrid system will ensure that the vehicle returns high fuel efficiency but it sure would not match the current 1.3-litre diesel and mild hybrid system available with the S-Cross.

The 1.5-litre petrol engine has been developed in-house by Suzuki and it produces a maximum power of 105 Bhp and peak torque of 138 Nm. It will get a 5-speed manual transmission but since S-Cross is a premium segment vehicle, Maruti Suzuki may also offer a 4-speed automatic transmission with the crossover. Maruti Suzuki has never offered an automatic transmission with the S-Cross and there has been a demand for it in recent times. The availability of an automatic transmission with the S-Cross petrol will surely attract new customers.

Internationally, the S-Cross is already available with petrol engines. There is a 1.0-litre Boosterjet petrol engine that powers the Baleno RS in India and a 1.4-litre Boosterjet engine available with the S-Cross. In India, powering the S-Cross with turbocharged petrol engines will cause the price of the vehicle to jack up and that would be a difficult move to justify in the price-sensitive Indian market. The exact time of the launch of the S-Cross petrol is not known but it is likely to be launched by the end of this year.