FIAT & Maruti Reach Diesel Supply Agreement

FIAT fans won’t like this bit of news. FIAT India has announced that it has reached a further agreement to supply the 1.3-litre, BSIV compliant, Multijet diesel engine in the 75 HP tune to Maruti Suzuki for the next three years. The supply will start this month and every year FIAT will supply Maruti Suzuki with 1 lakh diesel engines for use in the Ritz, Swift and Swift DZire. The production of these engines will commence in the fourth week of January at FIAT-Tata’s joint venture plant in Ranjangaon near Pune. These engines are other than the ones which FIAT already licenses to Maruti Suzuki for production by Suzuki powertrain India. With FIAT also supply Premier with Multijet engines for the Rio compact SUV, is the Italian automaker relying too heavily on the Multijet motor to earn its bread and butter in the Indian market?