Maruti Ropes In Madhavan As Brand Face Of WagonR
Maruti Suzuki has roped in Bollywood actor R Madhavan as the brand face for the WagonR as it aims to increase sales of the car in South India. Maruti had carried out a consumer study before signing the actor and his signing would help increase the brand equity of WagonR nationally and more specifically in the southern parts of India. The WagonR has average monthly sales of 12,000 units and a cumulative customer base of 7.45 lakhs.
"We feel that associating with a personality such as Madhavan will certainly reinforce the brand values of WagonR at an all-India level. Going forward, we feel, the brand shall have an exceptional foothold in the Southern market as well. Given the popularity of Madhavan in the South, the masses will relate to the brand more strongly with a local icon becoming the face of the brand," he added.
[Via: motorbeam]
Maruti to shift production facilities to Manesar plant
During the recent visit of Mr. O. Suzuki, Chairman and CEO, Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan, for attending the Annual General Meeting of shareholders of Maruti Suzuki India Limited, the production facilities of Maruti Suzuki India Limited were reviewed.
It was noted that the building of the existing Gurgaon Plant I was constructed in early 1970's. It had been refurbished and modified before Maruti Udyog began production in 1983. The said building is almost 40 years old, and the building and equipment are depreciated to a large extent and, therefore, it is necessary to reconstruct the building and modernise the production facilities.
But since the land in the Maruti campus in Gurgaon has been fully utilised, and there is no space available for the expansion of the plant, it was decided that facilities from Plant I in Gurgaon should be added and shifted to Manesar Plant in a phased manner.
The Gurgaon Plant I will be gradually changed to a base for engine assembly and machining, while automobile assembly will be integrated at Manesar Plant. As the shifting of production facilities will result in increase of production volume at Manesar Plant, we have requested the Haryana Government for further support so that the railway siding at Manesar Plant can be completed as early as possible.
[Via: infibeam]
Maruti DZire Crosses 1 Lakh Sales
Maruti Suzuki has managed to sell one lakh units of the Swift DZire within 18 months of launch. The company had launched the DZire in March 2008 in both petrol and diesel variants priced between Rs 4.49 lakh and Rs 6.70 lakh.
This follows the company's recent milestones, including achieving 80 lakh units of cumulative production for all its brands, followed by roll-out of one lakh units of its KB-series engines and launch of the 1,00,000th units of the A-Star. The company has scaled up production of DZire from 4,000 units initially to 7,000 units a month now.
[Via: motorbeam]
Maruti Suzuki shows a growth of 41 per cent in August
Maruti Suzuki has reported to have sold a total of 84,808 vehicles in August 2009. This shows a growth of 41.6 per cent in the month. This figure includes exports of 14,847 units, the highest ever monthly export in the company' s history.
A company release said it had sold a total of 59,908 cars in August 2008. Maruti Suzuki' s volume in the domestic A2 segment grew by 39.3 per cent. In the A3 segment, the sales volume grew by 44.1 per cent during the month as compared to sales in August 2008.
During the month of August, the company crossed the milestone of 50,000 cumulative exports in this fiscal year. The Maruti Suzuki A-Star is Maruti' s flagship export model. The A-Star, which was introduced internationally in January 2009, has been leading the export numbers since introduction. The major markets for this model in Europe include Germany, UK, France and Netherlands.
[Via: carazoo]
New Maruti Estilo Launched
Maruti India has come up with a refreshed New Estilo which looks much better than the outgoing model with new headlamps, grille and bumpers. Interiors have also been spruced up to give it a upmarket look with all beige theme.
New Estilo comes with all the changes as expected in a mid life facelift - new bumpers, new headlights, new front grille and new fog lights. The front of the car certainly looks more grown up with the large teardrop shaped headlamps flanking a more mature looking grille.
Maruti Suzuki has announced the price of New Estilo - it has been priced at Rs. 3.24 lakhs for the base model and Rs. 4.14 lakhs for top of the line VXi variant with ABS & Driver Side Airbag. The prices are more or less in the same price range of the outgoing model. As far as variants are concerned, it is available in three variants - Lx, Lxi, Vxi & top of the line Vxi ABS. Here are ex-showroom prices of New Estilo:
- New Estilo Lx -------- 324000.00
- New Estilo Lxi ------- 353000.00
- New Estilo Vxi ------- 383000.00
- New Estilo Vxi ABS - 414000.00
New Estilo is available in folowing eight shades:
- Superior White
- Midnight Black
- Silky Silver
- Dusky Brown
- Ecru Beige
- Quantum Orange
- Bright Red
- Emerald Blue
Additional Features/Changes In New Maruti Estilo:
- New Design Front & Rear Bumpers
- New Tear Drop Shape Headlamps
- New Wheel Covers
- New Mature Looking Front Grille
- New Round Fog Lights
- New 998cc K-series engine from A-Star
- New Intrument Cluster
- New Gearbox
- New Interior Theme for seats and dashboard
Maruti A-Star Crosses One Lakh Mark
Maruti Suzuki launched its new KB series model A-Star last year. The company rolled out its 100,000th model from its Manesar plant recently. A-star is the flagship exports model of the company which is also being sold as Nissan Pixo in the overseas market. Other models like SX4, Swift and Swift Dzire are also being manufactured at the Manesar plant.
"A-Star is doing very well in the export market. We are planning to export over 75,000 units of the car by the end of this fiscal," said Maruti Suzuki India Chairman R C Bhargava. He also stated that Nissan, who sells the A-Star under its label in Europe, has increased its exports order from 30,000 units to 54,000 units. Earlier the company was hesitant to place the order but looking at the response from the European markets the company has increased its exports order.
Maruti also exports its A-Star model to Netherlands, the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Saudi Arabia, UAE and more than 40 countries across the globe.
[Via: cartradeindia]
Nissan Increases A-Star Order From Maruti
The Maruti A-Star is not only setting the sales chart on fire as a Suzuki but even as a Nissan. The growing demand for small cars in Europe has led Nissan to nearly double the cars that it buys from Maruti Suzuki. The contract manufactured A-Star's annual order is now in excess of 50,000 units.
"Against the earlier indicated order of 30,000 units for this fiscal, Nissan has now confirmed that it plans to buy 54000 units," Maruti chairman R C Bhargava said. "Total exports to Nissan will now far exceed what was originally projected by them," he added.
[Via: motorbeam]
80 Lakh Marutis in India
Maruti Suzuki India has passed the milestone of producing 80 lakh cars in India. The company is still India's largest car manufacturer and the second largest car exporter. Maruti accounts for every second car sold in India and dominate the small car segment that accounts for nearly two-third of the overall car sales in India.
The first car rolled out on 14 December 1983 from the Gurgaon plant. Maruti currently has its two plants, the second being at Manesar near Delhi. So far the company has manufactured 81,05,228 units from its two manufacturing unit. MSIL manufactured 27 lakh M800 all these year and at least 25 lakh units were sold in the domestic market alone.
Now Maruti Suzuki is looking at new business avenues. It is already setting up an India-exclusive R&D center in Bangalore which will be responsible for the development of new designs and models exclusively as per the Indian customers. It is also ready to ship its batch of 54000 units of A-Star which will be sold as Nissan Pixo in the UK.
[Via: cartradeindia]
Special Indian R&D Center for Maruti Cars in India
Maruti Suzuki is planning to set up an exclusive R&D center in India that will help in developing and improving its product portfolio in the country. Maruti currently sells every second car in India. According to its latest annual report, the company is looking for new land to set up its India-specific R&D center for its small cars. It will specially cater to the market demands of Indian customer. This center will also design and develop independent full bodies of its various models.
"Indian engineers will focus on the Indian market and come out with India-specific models apart from bringing customised versions of global models to India," said Shinzo Nakanishi, chief executive officer and managing director of the company. He also stated in the annual report that the Indian market essentially needs additional R&D center to develop better cars in the country.
The company has already incorporated "One Gram, One Component" scheme in its manufacturing process which aims at reducing the weight of each component by one gram. The company is also persuading its suppliers to establish their own engineering capabilities to test and develop their components. Thus, a cumulative effort from the company as well as the auto component suppliers will definitely benefit the end product.
[Via: cartradeindia]
Maruti SX4 Diesel Faces Delay
Maruti Suzuki wont be able to launch the SX4 Diesel this year. Maruti is running into delays in procuring the diesel engine from Fiat. Fiat is already a supplier for Suzuki's SX4 range in Europe with a 1.9 litre engine. In India, Maruti is keen on a 1.6 litre engine to help keep the price tag relatively lower but currently Fiat has licensed Suzuki to make only the 1.3 litre unit in India, not the 1.6 or 1.9 litre engines.
Maruti was keen on launching the diesel SX4 since the new Honda City came in to the market in October last year. But Fiat does not want a clash with its new Linea that came into India this January. Fiat is expected to first launch a more powerful diesel Linea and that's why the SX4 gets pushed to next year.
This may not be great for Maruti as the SX4 has been steadily losing share with the Honda City now outselling the SX4. In the last six months, Honda sold 15,000 Citys while Maruti sold just 8000 SX4s. Maruti is hoping the diesel SX4 sets the sales chart on fire as the SX4 is cannibalised by the Swift Dzire.
[Via: motorbeam]