Maruti Suzuki has announced that it will begin sales of its small commercial vehicle, Super Carry, through a three city pilot. The cities, the company has chosen, are Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Ludhiana. Claimed to be high on performance and strength, the Super Carry is powered by a two-cylinder, 793 cc diesel engine that produces 24 kW (34 PS) and 75 Nm of peak torque at 2000 rpm. The engine, claimed to be a tweaked version of the unit that is found on the diesel Celerio, is mated to a five-speed manual gearbox. Said to consume a litre of diesel for every 22 km, the Super Carry is claimed to achieve a maximum speed of 80 kmph. With a 740 kg payload capacity, the SCV, going by its specifications and price, should compete against the Tata Ace. For Maruti Suzuki, which began exporting the Super Carry a few months ago, the move to begin pilot sales of the Super Carry in India marks a foray into the commercial vehicle market, not counting the commercial vehicle variants of the Omni and Eeco the company has been selling for some time now. Priced at Rs.4.3 lakh ex-showrrom Ahmedabad, the Super Carry boasts of a longer wheel base of 2110 mm. Claimed to offer better stability, lower loading bay and wider deck for ample loading space, Maruti Suzuki invested Rs.300 crore in the project. The vehicle is available with a warranty cover of two years or 72,000 km, whichever is earlier.