Chennai: Maruti Suzuki has said its new K-Next engine, which powers its latest offering - the Celerio hatchback, is targeted at mileage conscious buyer.
The K-Next engine is one of the unique features of the latest offering, which claims 23.1 km per litre and is targeted at the mileage conscious buyer, according to Maruti Suzuki India executive officer (marketing and sales) Takahiko Hashimoto.
"Nothing is impossible. Yes, that is possible. K-Next engine is highly acclaimed and delivers better responses and better fuel efficiency," he told reporters here when asked whether it was feasible to fit K-Next engine in existing models.
Hashimoto and senior company executives were here to unveil the Celerio hatchback fitted with K-Next engine.
Maruti Suzuki currently retails the hatchback Alto, WagonR, Ritz, highly popular Swift, Swift Dzire, luxury sedan SX4 and other models.
The K-Series engine is fitted in models like Alto, WagonR, A-Star and Estilo, among others. K-Next engine is the upgraded version of K-Series engine that is now equipped in Celerio.
Asked if the 'A-Star' and 'Estilo' hatchback models had been phased out, Maruti Suzuki India Vice-President (Marketing) Manohar Bhat said some dealers still have some models.
He said the Celerio is targeted at buyers who look for comfort and ease of driving without using gears. Currently, Maruti Suzuki retails A-Star, Estilo and Ritz in automatic variants.
The new car is offered in two variants - manual gear and auto gear, priced between Rs. 4.01 lakh (ex-showroom Chennai) for the base model manual variant and Rs. 4.67 lakh (ex-showroom Chennai) for the top model auto-gear variant.
To a query on Nissan Motor India's slated March launch of its hatchback - Datsun 'Go' below the Rs. 4 lakh price band while Maruti Suzuki was offering Celerio above Rs. 4 lakh, Mr Bhat said it is a standalone variant in India and not comparable with Datsun.
"The auto-gear variant what we are offering is standalone in India. It cannot be compared with other competitors", he said.
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