Maruti Suzuki India is making itself stronger in the hybrid segment. Post the launch of its first strong hybrid car in India – the Grand Vitara, Maruti Suzuki is now planning to bring strong hybrid variants of the Swift and the Dzire. With the upcoming next-generation versions of both the cars, Maruti Suzuki will introduce the hybrid variants too. The hybrid variants of the Swift and Dzire are set to become the most fuel-efficient hatchback and sedan respectively in the Indian market.
Autocar confirms that Maruti Suzuki is planning to bring Swift and Dzire strong hybrid next year. The launch is likely to happen in the first quarter of 2024. Internally known as YED codename, the Swift and Dzire strong hybrids will come powered by an all-new engine.
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Codenamed as Z12E, the new 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine will not be same as the the K12C. The engine will come with Toyota’s strong hybrid technology that we saw for the first time in the Grand Vitara and the Urban Cruiser Hyryder. Toyota is localising the technology even further to bring down the overall cost. This will allow the manufacturers to utilise the technology in the smaller vehicles.
Highly fuel-efficient
Indian market has always inclined towards highly fuel efficient vehicles. The upcoming next-generation Swift and Dzire will become the most fuel efficient cars in the Indian market. Currently, the Swift offers a fuel-efficiency of 22.56 km/l while the Dzire offers an efficiency of 24.1 km/l. The newly launched Grand Vitara strong hybrid returns a fuel efficiency of 27.97 km/l. With the arrival of the Swift and Dzire strong hybrids, we might see fuel efficiency in the range of 35 to 40 km/l.
The high fuel efficieny will also help Maruti Suzuki to better its CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) rating. The hybrids get ‘super points’ in the CAFE II scoring system, which will benefit Maruti Suzuki.
The price of the hybrid technology, however, will reflect on the price of the car. We are not sure about the exact price hike, the hybrid tech will definately add a few lakhs to the final price of the car. The report claims that Maruti Suzuki and Toyota are working to keep the price gap between the petrol and the hybrid models at a minimal. This will be achieved with aggressive localisation of the Hybrid system.
Interestingly, the price difference between the strong and the mild hybrid variants of Grand Vitara is about 2.6 lakh and Maruti Suzuki plans to bring it down to about Rs 1 lakh.
Upcoming cars from Maruti Suzuki
Maruti Suzuki is planning to bring in a slew of cars next year. Starting with the Auto Expo, the brand will showcase YTB, which is the crossover version of the Baleno hatchback, and the Jimny five-door. Maruti Suzuki will also showcase an all-electric concept vehicle. However, the brand believes that the market will adopt hybrid cars much quicker than the electric vehicles, which is why it is focussing on hybrid technology.
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