Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has stopped the production of their 1.3-litre multijet diesel engine that powers more than 24 cars from 5 car makers in the Indian automobile segment. The discontinued diesel engine from the brand was once christened as “national engine of India” while the production of the engine has been stopped at the Ranjangaon plant in Maharashtra.
The 1.3-litre Multijet diesel engine from Fiat was available in the Indian market as a Multijet engine from Fiat while Maruti Suzuki christened it as “DDiS” engine. In addition to this, Tata, Chevrolet and Premier availed it to the customers as Quadrajet, Smartech and CRDi4 engine respectively.
The brand has discontinued the Multijet diesel engine considering their decision to not upgrade it according to the all-new BS6 emission norms that will be effective in India from April 1, 2020. Since Fiat was witnessing negligible sales of its 1.3-litre Multijet diesel engine while the largest borrowers of the engine, Maruti and Tata have adopted new strategies for their diesel engines, halting the production of the engine was the only choice that wouldn’t bring further loss to the company.
With the discontinuation of the Multijet diesel engine, the existence of Fiat Automobiles has come to an end in the Indian automobile segment. The development of an in-house 1.5-litre diesel engine from Maruti Suzuki was the main reason for the reduced demand of the Fiat’s 1.3-litre diesel engine which further led to negligible sales from other brands also.
Commenting on the discontinuation 1.3-litre Multijet diesel engine from Fiat, FCA said, “Our JV manufacturing facility FIAPL today produced the last BS4 1.3-litre Multijet engine. This dependable, legendary turbo-diesel Fiat engine has, over the years, powered many popular vehicles in India. With the BS6 emission regulation norms being implemented, production has now been discontinued as we are actively moving into the manufacturing of BS6 powertrains. FIAPL produced a total of 8,00,050 of these dependable1.3-litre turbo-diesel engines in the life-cycle. We remain fully committed to our customers and have a robust plan ensuring spare parts availability for the life of any Fiat vehicle equipped with this workhorse. Parts will available at all FCA authorised workshops for the next 10 years.”
