Maruti Suzuki to upgrade 800 engine

19 May 2009

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd,  which last week launched the country's first BS-IV compliant car Ritz - in both petrol and diesel engine options - on Tuesday said it is working on upgrading the Maruti 800 engine as well, so as to comply with emission requirements that will take effect in April 2010.

Major Indian cities, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore, will implement Euro-IV emission norms, and Maruti said it plans to upgrade the Maruti 800 and Omni engines in order to make them Euro-IV emission norms compliant.

Maruti's statement comes after reports that said Maruti Suzuki will stop production of the Maruti 800 and Maruti Omni as they would not meet the standard to run in those cities.

"We have the engineering capabilities to upgrade the engines of Maruti 800, so that it could meet the emission norms and we are working on it," sales and marketing director Shuji Oishi said at the launch of Maruti's premium Ritz hatchback.

The Maruti 800, which is priced at about Rs185,000 ($3,900), which revolutionised the Indian car market with its introductory price of around Rs50,000, has also been the company's mainstay .

Maruti 800 sales have seen a dent with increasing consumer preference for the next best models and rising income levels. Maruti sales dropped 23 per cent to 62,323 units In the year ended March 2009.