Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India Limited set out to delight its customers on World Environment Day by launching the Maruti 800 Duo, a new variant that runs on petrol as well as Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

Speaking on the occasion, Mayank Pareek, Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki said, "Dual fuel vehicles have always formed a prominent part of our overall product strategy. We are happy to launch the Maruti 800 Duo on the World Environment day as it uses LPG, an environment friendly cleaner fuel. Besides, the car is economical to drive and being factory fitted, it is completely safe."

"The success of Maruti Suzuki's dual fuel models like the WagonR and the Omni Cargo is a clear reflection of the customer preference towards products that are safe and light on pocket and at the same time environment friendly. We are sure that the Maruti 800 Duo will find favour with the customers for the greater value for money to her" he added.

Coinciding with this launch, the company announced that it has sold almost 125,000 cars that are powered by LPG and CNG fuels.

Besides the Maruti 800, the company offers Omni and WagonR in dual fuel options (LPG-cum- petrol) As such, Maruti Suzuki is the only manufacturer in the country to offer alternate fuel vehicles across entry level, compact and commercial segments.

Power and Performance

The Maruti 800 Duo works on Gas Mixer System based on Integrated Gas Technology which results in optimum performance and superior emissions. The Maruti 800 Duo delivers a power of 35ps@5000 rpm and torque of 56Nm@2500 rpm. The LPG variant emits 10% lower CO2 than the petrol variant, hence is environment friendly.

Designed in-house by a team of 24 engineers, the Maruti 800 Duo saw active participation of some of the young engineers in the company.

The concept of the project was to make a cost effective LPG variant, which would deliver the performance equivalent to the Injection systems.

The learning's from previous products like Omni LPG (2004) & Wagon R Duo (2006) have been integrated into the Maruti 800 Duo to ensure that optimum power and torque levels are maintained at the same levels as the petrol variant.

Safety

Maruti 800 Duo is manufactured at the company's Gurgaon plant. The components of the Maruti 800 Duo are fitted on-line along side the petrol variant of the car, hence ensuring excellent quality levels. Like the other products in the company's portfolio, the Maruti 800 Duo undergoes all stringent checks as per Maruti Suzuki quality standards before being rolled out from the assembly lines. The factory-fitted Maruti 800 Duo enjoys full warranty benefits, which are available on other car models. Thus, Maruti 800 Duo will provide the customers benefits of lower running cost, without the risk associated with unapproved, after market LPG kits.

The LPG kit in the Maruti 800 Duo is approved by Department of Explosives, tested and certified by Automotive Research Association of India, country's premier automobile testing and certifying authority.

Maruti 800 Duo is available in a range of five colours.

Alternative fuels

Maruti Suzuki pioneered the alternate fuel scenario in the country by introducing Factory fitted models starting from 2001.

These regularly introduced dual fuel variants have found special favour amongst fleet operators and commercial users, for the excellent low running costs and low maintenance cycles.

The LPG variants constitute around 23 per cent of national sales for Wagon R and Omni.

With the launch of Maruti 800 Duo the company would have a greater presence in the alternative fuel cars in the country.

Introductory Price

The prices of Maruti 800 Duo in Delhi are: