Maruti Suzuki will reach the peak of 1million cars by this fiscal end, a feat to be realized after its launch of Maruti 800 some six years ago. This hope is revived in the chit of demands in domestic and export market this year. If clicked, it will be a rare milestone in the Indian auto industry to be envied by its close rival Hyundai, as the difference in sale numbers would double, with Hyundai expecting to reach the mark 5,60,000 units for the period ending December 2009.
The comparative figures revealed by SIAM displays that Maruti’s stint in the period of April-October stood at 560579 units against Hyundai’s 321966 units of passenger vehicles. In the last year, a sum of 1838697 units of passenger vehicles were manufactured in India in which Maruti had a share of 42.1%(774623units) against Hyundai’s 502218 units. Excepting the period of temporary recession in 2008-09, Maruti has been in the good niche in domestic market and the one million mark would have come in its way last year itself if the export to Europe materialized fruitfully.
Now the company is hopeful with it’s A-Star making a good show in Europe market and the new milestone is not far from the sight. New product is also in the fray from Maruti- a van replacing Versa in meeting the Bharat Stage IV norms. Further, all models will be upgraded to meet this norm by April 2010. New hybrid and electric cars are also on the list but not in the near future.