Did you know that Maruti Zen came with a 1.5 Litre diesel engine? It was not available in India but only for the European markets.
Maruti Zen was definitely every auto enthusiast’s budget car. Puny but a peppy motor, compact dimensions and a unique styling made it adapt to the growing modern world. After being in service for nearly a decade and a half, Maruti had to discontinue the hatch. We may not see it that often on the road now, but whenever we do, definitely keeps our heads turning around.
Here is an old brochure of Maruti Zen that was sent out to the European markets. It was particularly one of the best selling cars of a small European country Malta. In the rest of the Europe it was fairly popular as well, however, by the name of Suzuki Alto. Very few people knew this but for export market, Maruti Zen came with a 1.5 Litre diesel engine! In India, it just came with a 1.0 Litre petrol engine.
Also Read: This Modified Maruti Zen Steel Produces More Than 170 BHP!
The engine was sourced from Peugeot and assembled in India itself. The four-cylinder 1.5 Litre unit was good for 58 BHP and 78 Nm of peak torque. It was not turbocharged and that’s why such low torque figures. Further, it came with a 5-speed manual gearbox and a claimed mileage of 15.7 kmpl. Of course, it was not bought in India for the primary reason for low fuel efficiency.
It came with very basic features like an optional air-condition, wiper-washer controls, rear wiper, halogen headlamps and separate boot and fuel lid openers. Otherwise, you had to get out of the car and open the boot or fuel lid with the key itself. In the 90s and early 2000s, Maruti Zen was an upgrade from the 800. However, soon, Alto took the place of Zen before it was finally discontinued in 2006.
To carry on the name, Maruti introduced the Zen Estilo. A tall boy hatchback was placed above the Maruti WagonR and sort of a premium upgrade to it. However, it did not find as many takers as the original car. Even it was replaced by Celerio in the 2010s and soon discontinued nearly 7 years ago. Maruti now has six hatchbacks for people to choose from, four of them available just under 5 Lakhs.
