Fiat is expected to begin supply of multijet diesel engines to car maker  Maruti Suzuki by February, the reports said.

The Italian car maker will also be signing an agreement with Maruti Suzuki by the end of the year.

The deal will benefit Maruti to clear faster its backlog of about  150,000 bookings, nearly 100,000 of which are for diesel-powered cars, mainly the Swift hatchback and the Swift Dzire mid-sized sedan.

Both the companies were expected to sign an agreement for 100,000 engines annually by the end of last year but Fiat had to take approval from its joint-venture partner Tata Motors to supply engines from their  Ranjangaon plant, the reports said.

Meanwhile, Fiat has now secured a go-ahead from Tata Motors and it is likely to begin supplying 7,000 to 10,000 engines next month. 

“We are at the final stages of signing the deal,” said, S Nakanishi, Managing Director of Maruti Suzuki.  He added, “We are currently negotiating  the prices and hopefully by  the end of the month, we will be through with the agreement.”  

The Italian car maker has also launched  Linea 2012 and Punto 2012 on January 3.

Fiat is an Italian automobile manufacturer based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmony.  The car maker is the world’s ninth largest car maker and the largest in Italy.