Price of Maruti Vitara Brezza Petrol more than diesel variant?

Maruti Vitara Brezza SUV is only available with a diesel engine option as of now.

Maruti Suzuki India has already confirmed that they are working on a petrol variant of their newly launched Vitara Brezza SUV. Launched in six trims, all powered by a 1.3-liter diesel motor, Vitara Brezza will probably be offered with a 1.0 liter BoosterJet motor.

This motor is as of now being imported into India and fitted onto the export-spec variants of Baleno. Apart form being imported, the motor also gets a turbocharger, making it more expensive. For the consumer who is waiting for a petrol variant of Vitara Brezza, this could mean that Vitara Maruti Vitara Brezza petrol motor will be more expensive than the existing diesel counterpart which is on sale in the range of INR 7 – 10 lakh.

Why not build the 1.0 liter BoosterJet motor in India? Well, in order to match economies of scale, Maruti Suzuki will need to produce 1 lakh units of this motor annually. The car maker is not sure whether there will be such huge demand for the engine. As of now, they will be playing the wait and watch game. If the demand is high, then they will definitely go for local assembly of BoosterJet motor.

So why to install a BoosterJet motor if it is expensive and not the 1.2-liter petrol motor from Swift or Baleno. This is because on board a hatchback, the 1.2 liter is good enough while on an SUV it will not be. SUV needs more torque, which the BoosterJet motor can deliver in the form of 170 Nm, says a source close to the development of the project.

Apart from the Vitara Brezza, Suzuki’s new 1.0 liter 3-cyl BoosterJet engine will also be seen on the Baleno RS, which was showcased at the 2016 Delhi Auto Expo as a concept. Expect both cars, Baleno BoosterJet and Vitara BoosterJet to be launched by Diwali this year.

This article first appeared on rushlane.com