Kia Just Showed India Its First Flex-Fuel Car, But You Can’t Buy One Yet

After Maruti Suzuki’s WagonR Bioflex, India’s first commercially available car that is homologated to run on E85 fuel, another automaker has followed suit, and it’s not Tata Motors. Kia India apparently beats Tata to the punch by showcasing (not releasing) the Syros Flex Fuel Vehicle. The good part is that the car supports pure ethanol and blended-ethanol fuels. However, the bad part is that you can’t get one yet. 

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No Price Tag Yet, Just A Fuel Policy Catching Up To Carmakers

The car exists because of the pace of ethanol blending and the groundwork behind it. The latest standards for higher-concentration fuel blends were notified earlier this year (in May). By June, Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari also signed off on E100 fuel-related rules. In fact, the government wants to expand E85 infrastructure to 500 outlets by the end of December 2027 and 5,000 by the end of 2027. 

Kia showcasing its Syros Flex Fuel Vehicle concept barely months after that reads like caution, not coincidence. The automaker wants to look prepared and compliant for the government’s vision of increasing the ethanol blend in fuel.

However, holding off before a commercial release also shows that the company isn’t rushing into anything, especially since there’s little to no demand for E85 fuel or the already-available WagonR Flex Fuel vehicle in the market.  

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The Engineering Changes Under The Skin

Kia hasn’t released power, torque, or mileage figures for the Syros flex-fuel. However, the mechanical parts will likely carry forward unchanged. From what we know, the car features the same 1.0-liter three-cylinder turbo-petrol engine as the regular Syros. However, its ECU, TCU, and fuel system have all been recalibrated to detect and tolerate different concentrations of ethanol in the fuel.  

The only change, however, is the gearbox. The regular Syros, with its 1.0-liter petrol engine, is mated with a seven-speed DCT gearbox. On the other hand, the Syros Flex Fuel Vehicle’s 1.0-liter engine has been paired with a six-speed torque converter unit. To me, this sounds like a durability call. Ethanol-rich blends run hotter and harder on clutch packs than pure petrol does.

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