Maruti Suzuki has commenced the deliveries of the Maruti Wagon R Bioflex in Delhi, and that's the real headline here, not the launch itself, since it's now open to buyers. Priced at Rs 7.24 lakh (ex-showroom), this is India's first production car built to run on ethanol blends all the way up to E100. For Indian buyers, that matters because it's a direct test of whether flex-fuel tech, something the government's been pushing for years through Nitin Gadkari's ethanol programme, actually works in a car you can buy off a showroom floor.
Price, Mileage And What You're Actually Buying
The Maruti Suzuki Wagon R Bioflex is based on the standard Wagon R's top-spec ZXi+ 1.2-litre petrol variant, and at Rs 7.24 lakh (ex-showroom), it costs about Rs 86,000 more than the regular ZXi+ MT. That's not a small
jump on a car this size, and it's worth knowing upfront.
Power comes from the same 1.2-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine, putting out 91 bhp and 114 Nm, paired with a 5-speed manual, there's no automatic option right now. Maruti hasn't released an official ARAI mileage figure for the Bioflex yet, but going by how flex-fuel engines typically behave on higher ethanol blends, expect noticeably lower efficiency than the standard Wagon R's 23.56 kmpl. A separate flex-fuel mileage test on a Suzuki motorcycle showed close to a 24 per cent efficiency drop running E85 versus E20 and a similar dip is reasonable to expect here too.
What Makes It Run On Higher Ethanol Blends
To handle fuel up to E100, the Bioflex gets upgraded fuel injectors and pumps, new fuel lines, a recalibrated ECU as well as an ethanol sensor that adjusts combustion based on whatever blend goes into the tank. In practical terms, this means owners can fill up with whatever ethanol-petrol mix is available locally.
The government has also started rolling out dedicated E85 pumps with Indian Oil, priced around Rs 82/litre in Delhi, roughly Rs 20 cheaper than regular E20 petrol with clear branding so drivers don't mix up nozzles. Visually, the only giveaways are 'Flex Fuel' decals on the sides and 'Bioflex' badging at the rear; the cabin and feature list stay identical to the standard car, right down to the 7-inch touchscreen, six airbags and rear parking sensors. For now, this remains a single-variant, single-city rollout, so anyone outside Delhi wanting one will likely need to wait for Maruti to widen availability.
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