Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza
Maruti Suzuki Vitara BrezzaIBTimes India

Maruti Suzuki's soon-to-be-launched Vitara Brezza compact SUV is likely to get an automated manual transmission (AMT) variant later in its lifecycle. Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza is expected to go on sale in India by the end of March.

While speaking to OverDrive, C V Raman, executive director of engineering and R&D at Maruti Suzuki, hinted that the company is considering AMT boxes for the upcoming Vitara Brezza. The Vitara Brezza, which will be launched only with the diesel engine initially, is also expected to get a petrol mill under the hood later this year. Although the AMT avatar of the Vitara Brezza is under consideration, various reports suggest this might take some time to come in the market.

Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, the next big-ticket release of the country's largest car-maker in the lucrative compact SUV segment, made its first public appearance at the Auto Expo 2016 in Delhi. The Vitara Brezza, the first model of Maruti Suzuki to be conceived, designed, developed and validated in India by Maruti's R&D, team led by Chief Engineer CV Raman, will be pitted against models like Mahindra TUV 300 and Ford EcoSport in the country.

At the heart of the Vitara Brezza is a diesel 200 DDis engine that can churn out 88.5bhp of power at 4,000rpm and 200Nm of peak torque at 1750rpm, with a five-speed manual gearbox. To be offered in six variants — LDi, LDi (O), VDi, VDi (O), ZDi, and ZDi+ — the Vitara Brezza is expected to carry a price tag in the range of Rs 5.5 lakh to Rs 8.2 lakh.

Some of the dealers of Maruti Suzuki have already opened bookings for the new Vitara Brezza. However, the official booking is expected to begin in early March.