Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) on Thursday unveiled India’s first flex-fuel car – a Wagon R hatchback– which can run on any blend of ethanol and petrol from E20 to E100. The country’s largest carmaker, however, did not disclose prices or availability of the flex fuel vehicle.
The launch of Maruti’s flex fuel model comes a day after Hero MotoCorp launched two Flex Fuel vehicles - the Splendor+ and HF Deluxe – amid the Centre’s push for a higher blend of ethanol in petrol.
The launches by two leading automakers in their respective markets come weeks after the Union government notified new fuel standards for petrol blended with up to 30% ethanol as it looks to cut crude oil imports and expand its domestic biofuels ecosystem.
Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said that 500 petrol pumps across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, and Nagpur will dispense E85, a fuel blend containing 85% ethanol and 15% petrol, by the end of 2026. To begin with, 50-100 dispensing station outlets will be made available in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, and the Nagpur corridor. This will be expanded to 500 by December this year and approximately to 5,000 outlets across major cities by the end of next year.
Puri stated that flex fuel vehicle launches will provide momentum to India’s 'Aatmanirbhar' Ethanol blending quest, which stood at a mere 1.5% in 2014, reached the milestone of 20%, and now looks beyond. “If just 50% of two and four-wheeler sales in India shift to Flex fuel, it will lead to 311.8 crore litres of additional ethanol demand, Rs 12,403 crore additional income for farmers, Rs 1,672.3 crore saving in foreign exchange and 66.4 lakh metric tonnes less CO₂ emissions,” he said at the launch event.
Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) said that flex-fuel vehicles have the potential to significantly reduce emissions, lower crude import dependence, and generate foreign exchange savings of Rs 1.44 lakh crore. He added that initiative will also accelerate biofuel adoption, support farmers, strengthen rural energy security, and create new employment opportunities—paving the way for a greener, more resilient mobility ecosystem in India.
Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director & CEO, Maruti Suzuki said India has two national objectives, i.e reduce dependence on imported crude oil and cut carbon emissions.
“Flex-fuel meets both… However, large-scale adoption of flex-fuel will take time and effort from all stakeholders. An entire ecosystem needs to be developed – from fuel availability to more model launches, from customer awareness to fuel and vehicle pricing. In the absence of an ecosystem, it is the responsibility of the market leader to take the first step and encourage others,” said Takeuchi.