Saar: Toyota may also end up using the same powerplant in its next-gen Corolla Altis.

Last month, we reported that the mid-life update of the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz is launching in August this year. With it, will debut Maruti Suzuki’s 1.5-litre petrol-hybrid engine which not only promises to be more powerful than the 1.4-litre petrol engine in the outgoing model of the Ciaz but also more economical. Now though, according to a report published by The Hindu, the engine will also do duty in Maruti Suzuki’s version of Corolla, when it goes on sale in 2020.

Just to be clear, Toyota and Suzuki recently announced that among other agreements, they will be sharing vehicle platforms with each other as well. Under that, Toyota will get units of Baleno and Vitara Brezza from Maruti Suzuki, while sending Corolla Altis the other way. As per the agreement, both companies will sell derivatives of the aforementioned models from their respective retail and export networks.

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The engine in question has a mild hybrid system to support its case. In essence, it is the same technology (SHVS) that Maruti Suzuki has used with the 1.3-litre diesel engine in its products in India. The concept of a mild hybrid is to reduce the load on the internal combustion engine under acceleration. Once the mild hybrid system’s dedicated battery runs out of juice, the integrated starter generator reverses its role and charges the battery using regenerative braking and under in-gear deceleration.

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Maruti Suzuki’s presence where the Toyota Corolla Altis competes with the Skoda Octavia and Hyundai Elantra has been negligible over the years. It did have the Kizashi sedan on sale but since it was never built in India and came at a premium compared to the others in the segment, the D-segment sedan never racked up the numbers for the company. Sharing the platform with Toyota to bring its own version of the Corolla Altis, makes for a more cost-effective business deal. That should be interpreted in its pricing in a couple of year’s time.