Dezire to replace esteem:
Maruti Suzuki India has drawn curtains to one of its most successful models on Indian roads – Maruti Esteem. Maruti which started a scheduled plant shutdown for maintenance and will resume production on January 2. But no esteem will be produced in the new year. Esteem will pave for the Maruti Suzuki’s new dezire or swift sedan. Media reports indicate “The company has taken a decision to stop the production of mid-size sedan Esteem. The car would be replaced by a sedan variant of Maruti’s popular hatchback Swift (called dezire),”. Maruti Suzuki is likely to roll out the new dezire or Swift sedan on Indian roads by March 2008.Maruti Suzuki would initially launch a petrol variant of Swift sedan or dezire sporting a 1.3 lt engine and is likely to introduce a diesel powered version later in the year.Maruti is already facing capacity constraint for the swift diesel hence launching a diesel Swift sedan or dezire would not make sense at this time. Maruti Suzuki has a manufacturing capacity of one lakh engines per annum at its Manesar plant which is being increased to three lakh engines.
About Esteem:
Maruti Suzuki’s Esteem has been on Indian roads since 1994 and in 2006 it won the JD Power best entry-sedan award.. Maruti Suzuki’s first-ever sedan on Indian roads was the Maruti 1000 which was given a higher engine and rechristened as Maruti Esteem in 1994. Maruti Suzuki was in the process of gradually cutting down Esteem production from the beginning of this fiscal but has built up an inventory to meet the demand for the model going forward. Esteem production was cut from an estimated 1,533 units in April, to just 497 units in November. The production for the model was, however, increased to 1,903 units in August to build up an inventory.The company is offering a discount of up to Rs 57,500 on Esteem.