Fiat to develop diesel engines for MSI from January last week

Supply crunch is the major issue Maruti Suzuki India is currently facing. Its current best-selling model Maruti Swift diesel has the biggest backlog ever with over one lakh customers waiting impatiently for the delivery and the auto major is trying out all the alternative options among which Fiat India is expected to be the life saviour in this case. The production is expected to begin at Fiat's Ranjangaon plant in Pune towards January end. Patting itself for coming up with a smart strategy, Maruti Suzuki India has recently tied up with Fiat India co-ordinating with the latter's partner Tata Motors for developing 1 lakh diesel engines per annum translating to over 8000 units a month for helping out the country's largest car manufacturer from their deep troubles.

Not depending completely on the external source Maruti Suzuki India also sought out help from within the company ramping up the production of diesel engines from its sole supplier and subsidiary Suzuki Powertrain to an additional 5000 units. With the another 13,000 units in hand, Maruti Suzuki India hopes to clear off the bookings at the earliest and head to achieve the 20,000 unit sales a month for Maruti Swift hatchback. Though facing a couple of last minute adjustments with the pricing issues with Fiat India and its partner Tata Motors for rolling out the first lot of diesel engines meant for the month of January, the auto major is quite posititive on ironing out the issues soon.

The additional supply of diesel engines are all the more important for Maruti Suzuki India when it is on the brink of launching the new Maruti Swift Dzire CS sedan to replace the existing Swift Dzire in February. Once again, MSI might bring into use the 1.3 L multijet diesel engine it had been sourcing from Fiat even before Maruti Suzuki and Volkswagen deal came into light to power almost all its diesel car line up. The auto major is believed to bring the same multijet engine to power its upcoming MPV Maruti Ertiga going to be launched this year.