India’s leading automaker Maruti Suzuki has announced that they are planning to launch a car completely build in India by 2011. The made in India car will be another major step in the company’s efforts to achieve its goal of developing products on its own. “Our ultimate aim is to have products developed on our own,” Rao said.
Maruti seems to have come off age after more than two decades it was formed as a joint venture between Japan`s Suzuki Motor and the Indian government, it is set to develop an all-new model from scratch by 2011 using its Indian engineering strength. “We have started the ground work to launch a car which is conceived, designed and developed fully in India,” Maruti Suzuki India Managing Executive Officer (Engineering) I V Rao told media. The company has been strengthening its engineering and design competencies as it plans to nearly double its engineering workforce by 2010 from 560. “We would like to close March next year with 740 engineers and reach 1000 by 2010,” he adds. The company is hopeful of rolling out the car in the next four years, he added. Rao’s statement indicates the fast-growing stature of Maruti within Suzuki’s overall global plans and clearly brings out the future strategy of the Japanese carmaker.
“The launch of the car is very important to us for many reasons, like India is the only country where this model is being manufactured. We expect that the A-Star will enable our company to reach a different level in our export,” MSI Chairman R C Bhargava said. The new hatchback will be manufactured at Manesar production facility in India. It would be powered by a 998cc K10B petrol engine and would be available in three variants in the domestic market. A Made-in-India car is the one, which will be developed almost entirely in the country, using the technical expertise and know-how of Indian engineers. A 100% Indian-made car, sure a pride in its own sense for the company and for the country as a whole!