New Innings
A reincarnated Premier Automobiles has China-made SUV as maiden offering
The Rio is assembled at Premier’s Pune factory from CKD kits. Right now nothing is indigenised; the body panels come from China fully painted and even the tyres (Kendra radials), stereo and batteries are Chinese. What is Indian is the engine. When Peugeot left India it left behind the 1.5-litre TuD 5 diesel engine which contemporary reports rated very highly in the Peugeot 309, Esteem diesel and Zen diesel. The same engine has now found a new lease of life in the Rio. Cubic capacity has been reduced to 1489cc (why, we’ll get to in a bit) and in doing so Premier claim to have significantly re-engineered the engine and thus have badged it their own. The engine gets a fixed geometry turbocharger which helps it meet BS3 emission norms. Power is rated at 64.8 PS while there’s 152Nm on tap from 2250 to 3000rpm.
All said and done though this is still an old school IDI diesel engine, not a common-rail engine we’ve gotten so used to. It even has a switch to activate the glow plugs and when was the last time you saw that in a passenger car? Fire it up and the longitudinally mounted engine settles into a noisy idle – there isn’t much sound deadening in the car as in China it runs a petrol engine – and the clatter rises significantly with revs. The engine is mated to a 5-speed transmission which comes from Zoyte and power is sent to the rear wheels. There is no four-wheel-drive variant. |
18 Comments
Sushrut
Oct 30, 2009
09:38 AM
How the hell did arai gave a certificate to launch this car? This car sounds like last nail in
premier's coffin.
regards,
sushrut
Mujibur Rhaman
Oct 31, 2009
10:27 PM
Nostalgia is back !! I want to have a test drive. Pls let me know the dealers in tamil nadu
especially around thanjavur. This suv may be a lifeline for premier !!
Ashwini Khanna
Nov 01, 2009
09:50 PM
This will be a complete flop product! Who cares if it is 1.5 lakh cheaper than the suvs available in
india. People would love topay more and get a quality product with more power and less noise diesel
engine.
i feel sad for premier with such a low quality "made in china" product launch!
they would be more successful if they re-launch the 118ne with different features and varients
available in cars these days - like power window, power steering, etc etc
melroy
Nov 02, 2009
10:33 PM
Rio rock man very gud competitor guys .... Premier with new revolution .... Rock it premier..
melroy
Guru
Nov 03, 2009
02:37 PM
A total flop even before it comes on the road. Why do car companies bring cheap outdated models in
india and term them as some compact suv's.
somebody please tell premier that they have just hammered their own legs.
Johan
Nov 04, 2009
06:34 AM
How can u even call this an suv??? Luks like the old tata estate with a noisy engine and cheaper
than worst quality. I believe that they will once again go out of business and close down if they
launch this vehicle.
ramesh lal
Nov 04, 2009
01:23 PM
Premier is doing the same as kirloskar did with outdated toyota kijang. Qualis was not japanese as
it was made in indonesia. Rio is originally japanese car from daihatsu owned by toyota and was
manufactured in china. Premier should bring this car also with petrol engine.Nothig wrong even if
its chinese because it came from japan to china.
