The Hindu Business Line : Maruti still bets on the 800 model to drive growth

THE country's largest carmaker Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) said here on Tuesday its best-selling entry level model, the Maruti 800, will continue to be its volume driver since sales continued to be encouraging.

The company, which grew this year at the rate of 30 per cent as against the industry average of 27 per cent, expects sales to touch the 4.2 lakh unit mark, Mr K. Saito, Director, Sales and Marketing, told reporters. "Our turnover is likely to cross the Rs 10,000-crore mark," he said.

The company also announced that it is firming up plans to further strengthen its dealer network across the country to tap potential consumers. Talking to reporters at the inauguration of Millennium Mobility, the company's fourth dealership in Pune city, Mr Saito said the company is in the process of setting up dealerships in Chhattisgarh (2), Mumbai (1), the current one in Pune and a recently inaugurated one in Chennai.

"By end of March we hope to have 280 dealerships in place," he said. Replying to a specific query on the fate of its entry level 800 model, Mr Saito said that it had no plans to phase it out and replace it with any other model. "The car has been given a major upgradation in 1998 and we continuously work at improving its performance. Sales have been good and it continues to pick up," Mr Saito said, pointing out that the model accounted for almost 14,000 units of its total monthly sales of 40,000 cars.

Meanwhile, the company's new dealership in Pune city is expected to further strengthen its position in the city which recorded a growth of almost 25 per cent, next only to Mumbai's 41 per cent.

"The city has a lot of new jobs and a large new potential buyer community who have large disposable incomes and want to upgrade to cars," Mr Deepak. D. Naik, Director, Millennium Mobility, said. Maruti's growth in sales in Western India has been 34 per cent over last year, Mr Rakesh Shrivastava, Deputy General Manager, Western Region, added.