Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Dec 12, 2007
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Dec 12, 2007 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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Cars Corporate - Outlook
Concept car: Mr Osamu Suzuki, Chairman and CEO of Suzuki Motor Corp, at a press conference in the Capital on Tuesday. - Kamal Narang Our Bureau New Delhi, Dec. 11 In keeping with its commitment to make India the largest hub outside Japan, Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) said that the company would launch its compact car model from the country next year for the export and domestic markets. India will also see the debut of its global car, Splash. The SMC Chairman, Mr Osamu Suzuki, said that the company would commence the production of its concept car, A-Star, in the autumn of 2008 for the European market. The company would manufacture 1,50,000 units of the new car. Mr Suzuki said of this, 50,000 units would be for the domestic market and 1 lakh units for exports. A-Star will be the compact car that SMC had been talking about specifically for the European market from the facilities of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd( MSIL). It is also the car for which it has a contractual agreement to manufacture for Nissan. However, company officials said that the 1,50,000 units do not include the production for Nissan. The car will be of 1 litre engine that would be Euro 5- compliant. Mr Suzuki also said that the company would be launching Splash, a 1.2 litre engine car in the spring of 2008. Unlike A-Star, in the case of Splash, the models that would be rolled out from its facility here would cater only to the domestic market. More choiceWith the launch of the two models, both in the compact car segment, Maruti’s small car portfolio would consist of cars ranging from 1 litre to 1.6 litre, said Mr Suzuki. When asked if the company intended to phase out any of its existing small cars, he said that inclusion of new models in the compact car segment would offer additional choice to the customers. Both the cars, A- Star and Splash, will be manufactured at MSIL’s new facility at Manesar. Currently, the plant has a capacity of one lakh vehicles that will be expanded to three lakh units by 2010. The company announced an investment of Rs 10,000 crore as a part of its expansion and new product launches. As a part of its strategy to make India central to SMC’s global operations, Mr Suzuki had announced in October a change in the management structure, an increased spend of marketing and sales network as well as an additional investment of $1.8 billion in research and development. Meanwhile, MSIL will see Mr S. Nakanishi taking over shortly as Mr Jagdish Khattar completes his tenure as Managing Director on December 18. Maruti, Suzuki hope to score with new concept car Maruti's future models to have new-gen engines More Stories on : Cars | Outlook | Maruti Udyog Ltd
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