Friday, November 6th, 2009
Maruti Grand Vitara has continuously witnessed falling sales in past few months. Maruti intends to arrest the falling sales figures of its SUV model by bringing its advanced version to India. It currently imports the SUV from its Japanese production facility as a completely built unit which makes the model quite expensive. Now the company is contemplating its options to assemble the model in India itself to offer more features at extremely competitive prices.
“The company is seriously considering bringing in an advanced version of Vitara into India, mainly to arrest the falling sales of the SUV,” a source said. Maruti is in talks with auto component manufacturers to supply the parts for the model. An advanced version of the model will be introduced in 2010 and Maruti will decide upon its assembling plans for Grand Vitara after assessing the sales figures of the new model. Grand Vitara is currently available at Rs. 16.67 - Rs 17.97 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) and comes with 2.4L petrol engine with both manual and automatic transmission.
[Via: cartradeindia]
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Friday, October 23rd, 2009
Maruti had launched Maruti SX4 in May 2007 to compete with the likes of Honda City which is the most popular and successful sedan in its segment. But Maruti SX4 could not compete with City’s superior technology and brand image. At the time of launch SX4 has been very well recieved by indian customers, as it was a true value for money sedan which comes fully loaded with all the features at a very affordable price. But with the launch of 2009 model of Honda City, the sales of SX4 started to decline.
Now Maruti Suzuki India is back with new improved SX4 to make the deal better in comparison to Honda City, Ford Fiesta, Chevrolet Aveo & Hyundai Verna. They have plonked new 1.6 VVT engine in SX4 so that it complies with the strict emission norms which will be in effect from April, 2011 in 11 cities in India.
The new engine is a 1600cc VVT(Variable Valve Timing) powerplant producing 106 Bhp. Maruti has also given some cosmetic design upgrades to the exterior and interiors to make it look more muscular and smart in comparison to Fiat Linea and Honda City. Facelift is a regular one including new front grille, new alloys and spruced up interiors. ARAI has also announced the mileage figures of new SX4 - the manual version willl return 15.5 kmpl while the automatic variant is expected to return 12.5 kmpl.
Main Additions & Features Of New Maruti SX4
- Upgraded 1.6 Litre engine with VVT head which now develops 106 bhp. It also meets the Bharat IV norms
- All New Brown/Beige Interiors
- USB Input for the Dash Integrated Music System
- Wooden finish door mounted power window console
- Flush fitting central rear seat arm rest
- New Honeycomb Grille
- New 10 spoke 16″ alloy wheels
- Automatic Transmission Option
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Sunday, September 20th, 2009
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]
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Friday, September 11th, 2009
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]
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Monday, September 7th, 2009
Suzuki Motor plans to spend about 30 billion Yen ($ 322.6 million) to build a factory in India around 2011, boosting its production capacity in the country by 30 percent, the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday.
Suzuki’s Indian unit, Maruti Suzuki controls about half of the country’s market share. Maruti Suzuki Chairman R.C. Bhargava said earlier this week its management was considering whether to expand production capacity, adding it would be known soon.
A Suzuki spokesman said its Chairman Osamu Suzuki would brief on its Indian operation at its headquarters outside of Tokyo from 5 a.m. EDT on Saturday and declined to comment further.
[Via: Carazoo]
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Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009
Yamaha India has reported an increase of 63% in its sales during August 2009, at 19,508 units, as compared to 11,974 units sold in August last year. The company has bookings for over 12,000 units for its latest bike that was launched in India recently - the 150cc Fazer.
Hero Honda reports an increase of 35.88% in sales during August this year, at 415,137 units, as compared to 305,516 units sold in August last year. ‘With sales of more than four lakh units, August 2009 has been a month of record sales for Hero Honda,’ said Anil Dua, senior VP (marketing and sales), Hero Honda.
Up next is Suzuki, which logged a 17.68% increase in its two-wheeler sales in India during August this year, at 13,030 units, as against 11,072 units sold during August last year. According to Suzuki, its latest offering in the Indian market - the GS150R - was the main reason behind this increase in sales.
And finally, TVS Motor, which saw its total two-wheeler sales go up by 11%, at 126,842 units during August this year, as against 114, 321 units sold during August last year. TVS sold 51,127 motorcycles and 28,582 scooters in the domestic market during August 2009. The company also exported 11,747 two-wheelers during August this year, a decline of 35% over last year’s figure for the same month.
[Via: indiaautomotive]
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Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009
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]
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Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
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
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Monday, August 10th, 2009
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]
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Monday, August 10th, 2009
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]
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