Premier has finally come up with a bang, clearing all anticipations about the Premier Rio’s diesel variant. The Mumbai-based automaker has softly launched the much-awaited compact SUV diesel avatar of the Rio. Putting up an exciting price tag of Rs.6.7 lakh, the SUV will be starting to get delivered from tomorrow. Premier’s SUV, Rio 1.3 Multijet ahs been making headlines since the January 2012’s New Delhi Auto Expo.
Earlier, the diesel version’s performance (BSIII norms) wasn’t up to the mark for Tier-1 cities. This was the reason why tier 1 cities had to wait for the diesel version, even if they were already available in tier-2 cities. Targeting big cities of the country, the automaker started to work on BSIV complaint version. The car features a Fiat-make1.3 Multijet diesel powerhouse coupled with a five-speed manual transmission. The same engine can currently be seen in Swift, Punto and even Vista, but the one in Rio has an edge over the others.
The engine delivers a power of 72bhp @ 4000rpm and a torque of 183Nm. Moreover, the SUV (named Premier Rio CRDi4) has returns an impressive mileage of 19kmpl. As of now, the car is to be made available in four shades; black, red, white and silver. The Rio CRDi4, with its cheapest price tag in the segment, is being expected to take a head-on with Maruti Suzuki Ertiga and Renault Duster.
With the dimensions of 3970mm x 1570mm x 1730mm and a ground clearance of 200mm, the SUV is loaded with many other features like ABS, light brown interiors, rear wiper, defogger, boot mounted stepney tyre and power windows as well. Because of its Sub-4 dimensions, the Rio CRDi4 will eventually get advantage on excise duty too. The only constraint in terms of safety is the lack of air bags in the car.
