Friday, February 03, 2012
By Manoj Kumawat
New Maruti diesel cars launching in India
One of the senior officials of leading car maker in India, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL) stated that the company would launch more diesel models in the domestic auto-market in order to stabilize its market share which has been inconsistent for last few months. The company already has 4 diesel powered cars in India viz., Maruti Swift Dzire, Maruti Swift, Maruti SX4 and Maruti Ritz with 1.3 L diesel powertrains.
Shinzo Nakanishi, Managing Director and Chief Executive, Maruti Suzuki remarked that MSIL’s market share dropped to 40 percent in 2011 due to lesser sales of petrol car models in comparison to diesel cars production and slowdown in the automobile industry. He added that MSIL would now stress on manufacturing more diesel models. Suzuki Powertrain, alliance between Maruti and Suzuki Motor’s will enable the company to manufacture 3, 00,000 lakh diesel engines yearly, through its Gurgaon facility.
| See More Maruti Swift Dzire Pictures | Get Maruti Swift Dzire Price |
Nakashi further commented that Maruti Suzuki will also purchase around 1,00,000 diesel engines annually for next three years from the Italian car maker, Fiat as per a contract signed between Fiat and Maruti’s parental unit, Suzuki Motor Corp, which would help the car maker to produce more diesel vehicles.
| See More Maruti Swift Pictures | Get Maruti Swift Price |
The official added that the car buyers now prefer diesel cars as diesel is quite cheaper than petrol which has led the auto-biggies to bring in new diesel variants and mount up the production of continuing diesel variants. On the other hand, car manufacturers like Ford Motors have also declared their intentions to exhale their diesel engine production.
| See More Maruti Ritz Pictures | Get Maruti Ritz Price |
Last month, Maruti Suzuki got sales hike that accounted for selling 115,433 units, after seven months continuous market decline of 5.18 percent, last year. In January, 2011, the company was able to sell 109,743 units, while in December, 2011, it sold 92,161 units with a drop down of 7.1 percent.
| See More Maruti SX4 Photos | Get Maruti SX4 Price |
Speaking on the turn-around, Nakanishi commented that they are now projecting to attain a quick growth of 10 – 11 percent, as they had decline market share in April-December in 2011.
