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Maruti Suzuki is planning to expand its presence in diesel segment. After the hit of Dzire sedan and Swift hatchback in diesel version, the company is expecting the same success in upcoming car Ritz.

To handle the increasing demand of the diesel versions in their models, the company is raising the engine capacity by 1 lakh units as a part of their 9000 cr rupees expansion plan. This will bring its overall capacity for the diesel engines to three lakh units by the March 2010.

Maruti is also planning to switch some of their export capacity in the diesel engines for domestic market. Presently, the Maruti Swift petrol version has the waiting phase of 2-3 weeks. However, diesel versions of the both models have the waiting phase of 3 to 5 months. The Maruti Swift sells nearly 9K to 10K units a month and the Dzire model also sells nearly 6K to 8K units. Here, the relation of diesel sales v petrol sales is 7:3. In 2008, MAruti Suzuki exported 20K engines to Hungary.

The company did not specify by how much it will be able to lower the waiting period of its diesel variants with the increased capacity expansion.

When the Maruti Swift was introduced, the company had intended a making of 4K units. But Swift sales gone beyond expectations.

Now, the diesel choice of passenger vehicles is led by the Tata Motors. Even if Mr. Nitin Seth (Head, Passenger Car Business, Tata Motors) said no to disclose the diesel vs petrol cars ratio being sold.

We are still the largest players in the diesel segment. We cannot give the break up of sales. But customers prefer the diesel variants because they are fuel efficient.

- He added.

According to dealer sources, this sales ratio could be as high as 80:20 for Tata Motors.