Maruti Suzuki Ertiga is the best selling MPV in the Indian market. The manufacturer offers the Ertiga with petrol and CNG powertrains. As of now, the CNG powertrain is only offered with the VXi variant. However, according to the latest reports, Maruti Suzuki is working on introducing the ZXi variant with the CNG powertrain. They might also add some features to the ZXi variant to make it more desirable among the buyers. This might make people step up from the VXi variant to the ZXi variant. Thus, increasing the sales of the MPV.

Upgrading to ZXi means that the manufacturer will be offering more equipment. The ZXi offers wooden trim on the dashboard and door over the VXi variants. This gives a more up-market experience to the occupants. It will also add other features such as a height-adjustable driver seat, outside temperature gauge, engine push button to start/stop and automatic climate control. Moreover, there will be a rear defogger, accessory socket in the third row, two tweeters, height adjustment for the front seatbelt, front fog lamps, chrome-plated door handles, rear wiper with washer and alloy wheels.

The sales of the CNG models for Maruti Suzuki is going strong because they discontinued the diesel engines due to BS6 emission norms. The manufacturer instead started focusing more on factory-fitted CNG which they call S-CNG. The demand for the CNG models has increased quite a bit recently because of the increasing price of petrol and diesel. Currently, the Ertiga is the only MPV that is offered with a factory-fitted CNG option.

The Ertiga is offered with a 1.5-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine that we have also seen on the S-Cross, Ciaz, XL6 and Vitara Brezza. The engine produces 105 PS of max power and 138 Nm of peak torque. It is offered with a 5-speed manual gearbox or a 4-speed torque converter automatic gearbox. It also comes with mild hybrid technology that enables idle start-stop, brake regeneration and torque assist during accelerations. All of this helps in increasing the fuel efficiency of the MPV. The Ertiga returns a fuel efficiency of 19.01 kmpl with a manual gearbox and 17.99 kmpl when mated to the automatic transmission.

The CNG variants are not offered with the mild-hybrid technology. When running on CNG, the engine produces 92 PS of max power and 122 Nm of peak torque. The engine is offered only with a 5-speed manual gearbox. It returns an impressive fuel efficiency figure of 26.08 km/kg when running on CNG. The tank capacity of the CNG cylinder is 60-litres.

Toyota’s Ertiga

Toyota is also working on its version of the Ertiga. This has become possible because of the partnership between Maruti Suzuki and Toyota. A design graphic of Toyota’s version of Ertiga’s grille was leaked online which lead to speculations that Toyota will also be launching a rebadged Ertiga just like they did with the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza and the Baleno. They will also be launching the Ciaz which might be called Belta. According to the latest reports, Belta will be replacing the Yaris in the line-up.

Via GaadiWaadi