Maruti Suzuki to come up with Dual fuel engine

This is a great move. The petrol fuel is better for low end torque and CNG is cheaper to run when low end torque is not required. The WagonR LPG already does this, so its not necessarily new. Sorry no awards this time Maruti.

The bigger problem is availability of CNG. Delhi is probably the only city having access to CNG, the rest of the nation has no clue of its existence. Unless Delhi is coming up with some new policy to stop sales of all petrol and diesel cars, this car has no market.

Instead take the path others have trodden and proved to solve the problem.

• Introduce "Micro Hybrid" in all the cars by 2011(save money by component sharing). It saves 8% fuel straight without the hassles of secondary tank, twin refueling, infrastructure failure, Risk associated with gas tank inside the car, etc. More so the idea is not new, Mahindra has already shown its possible, in its Scorpio. The price associated are also below Rs.5k per car. I am sure people will accept it more than the dual fuel concept.
• Choose Turbo charged small car. The Modern diesels have proven that light turbo is possible with investment less than Rs.10k per car. Use the turbo already present in your diesel cars to boost the low-end torque to increase mileage. An 7-10% increase in efficiency is possible. In the next engine iteration try to put in smaller/lighter engines. In fact Suzuki already has 652cc turbo charged engine that can easily produce as much power as the 900cc K-Series. After market guys do this job and the risk is very low(for a 2-3 psi turbo). Just tweaking certain parts(like the piston rings and crank pins) and 1L km acceptance testing. 
• Invest in direct injection engines, save another 10% on fuel. Only problem would be injectors, but high pressure injection system is already available in your diesel cars. Only an innovative reuse and possibly an assembly with different rubber components.

Every bit said above is possible within 1-2 years and the complexity of single fuel engine is far lower than dual fuel engine.  Building CNG infrastructure and distributing will probably take about 6-10 more years.

While I agree with this idea in principle, there is a flaw in the assumption that by using the fuel( Petrol/CNG) frugally, fuel will be available for consumption for a longer time as we will consume less of it. Today, the limited fossil fuel reserves are depleting rapidly due to the heavy demand by increasing number ofautomobiles. The earth's atmoshere is laden with greenhouse gasses that cannot be reversed, and now we are amidst man made disasters.

The more realistic solution to this problem is to look for more sustainable solution both from a practical point and an environmentally sustainable options such as renewable energy powered like electric, Hydrogen power or other evolving technologies,which are not only greener, but can also be practical options to power the automobiles. Yes, at this point of time, we have techonological barriers and bottle necks which we must clear to achieve efficient power delivery and last long enough. Investment in R&D in this sector is curcial to come out with a more practicle cleaner and greener solution than the duel powered motors. Hydrogen powered engines are touted to be the most practicle solution, but are prohibitively expensive due to limited mass, and technological barriers. This can be easily broken by economies of scale buy mass production and incentives to both manufactureres and consumers in the form of subsidies by proactive governments, auto sector and environmental lobbyists.

Manufacturers should take product initiatives in coordination with the government - instead of introducing a product and then influencing the government to provide infrastructure which is a slow process they can actually work with the government organizations and release product lines with the infrastructure in place. This approach will influence the customer to accept change. How many times do we see a big long line of vehicles waiting to fill in gas for their vehicles - given the fact that gas filling stations are limited in the country - this actually makes a customer either avoid such vehicles. Indian Manufacturers should lobby with the government so that infrastructure should be established before launching a product.

Well the supply of CNG is limited. It is available in some select cities only. On the other hand if it had been LPG the penetration would have been more as LPG supply is better than CNG.

Moreover since this is a new technology its bound to give some teething problems.It would take some time to sort this out. In the meantime the running cost and downtime would creep up.It would surely take some time for us to get an idea of the per kilometer maintenance cost.

The initial investment for this vehicle would also be higher for example the injectors of this type would have to be imported.

Supply of fuel system parts would be a problem as the dealers keeping in mind the low initial volumes would not stock such parts adequately.

In short i see limited demand for these vehicles unless the Govt steps in by improving the CNG Infrastructure and starts providing duty relief to such products.

Possibly lower costs than even LPG and probably longer engine life too, other than that without inputs on maintenance costs and commercial availability of CNG like LPG or Petrol or diesel, it's a long shot at success on a mass scale.

We are neglecting many points. No matter CNG is cheaper than petrol and diesel but CNG engines are not ment for long distance travels. Also, there is no clear cut price range or ideas popular for these kind of vehicles in the market since these type of cars are introduced for the first time. On that, there is no specifications about maintenance cost & initial cost. Also, in these discussion, everyone is agreeing that it will promote CNG fuel. Then why the second engine is given ? for Oil? if it is so, will the vehicle be able to sustain two different fuel running engines ? There are still many unanswered questions....