Maruti Suzuki displays Fuel Efficiency of its 12 brands from the New Year

Results reinforce Maruti Suzuki’s leadership in fuel efficiency
New Delhi, December 31, 2008: In yet another first mover initiative, India’s leading car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India Limited has announced “Fuel Economy Consumer Information” of its full range of 12 brands at the company’s dealerships from today onwards.

“The `voluntary disclosure of fuel economy’ is a proactive measure undertaken by the company in customer interest. The fuel economy figures obtained in tests by premier automobile research institutions emphasize Maruti Suzuki’s overall leadership in making highly fuel efficient cars. It would enable customers to make an informed choice when purchasing a car in the market” said Mr. Shinzo Nakanishi, MD & CEO, Maruti Suzuki India Limited.

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), at its Annual Convention held in New Delhi in September 2008, had announced a Voluntary Labeling Program for all member companies to make a voluntary disclosure of fuel efficiency by end of March 2009. Maruti Suzuki is implementing the program on the first day of the New Year.

Maruti Suzuki has got its complete range of 12 brands tested at the three government approved test agencies: ARAI (Automotive Research Association of India) Pune; VRDE (Vehicles Research and Development Establishment) Ahmednagar and ICAT (International Centre of Automotive Technology) Manesar. The test results are as under:

Model Company Segment Fuel Certified Km per Litre
M800 Maruti Suzuki A1 Petrol 16.1

Omni Maruti Suzuki C Petrol 16.9
VERSA Maruti Suzuki C Petrol 12.7

Alto Maruti Suzuki A2 Petrol 18.1
Zen Estilo Maruti Suzuki A2 Petrol 17.3
Wagon R Maruti Suzuki A2 Petrol 17.0
A Star Maruti Suzuki A2 Petrol 19.6
Swift Diesel Maruti Suzuki A2 Diesel 21.0
Swift Petrol Maruti Suzuki A2 Petrol 15.9

Dzire Petrol Maruti Suzuki A3 Petrol 15.9
Dzire Diesel Maruti Suzuki A3 Diesel 21.0
SX4 Maruti Suzuki A3 Petrol 15.0

Gypsy Maruti Suzuki MUV Petrol 11.3
Grand Vitara Maruti Suzuki MUV Petrol 11.2

The Fuel Consumption Consumer Information labels displayed alongside the car models in the showrooms would prominently show the test result of fuel efficiency obtained under standard test conditions at the above mentioned test agencies.

Maruti Suzuki started the public announcement of fuel efficiency in November 2008, when it announced an extraordinary high fuel efficiency of 19.59 kilometer per litre (petrol), for the A-star. The fuel efficiency for A-star is the highest amongst Maruti Suzuki’s own range of petrol cars and could well be the highest in A2 segment petrol cars in the industry. The fuel efficiency of Swift Diesel and Swift Dzire Diesel at 21 kms to a litre of diesel, could also be best amongst the diesel cars in the industry.

Keeping a focus on consumer awareness while implementing the voluntary disclosure of fuel economy information across network of over 600 sales outlets in the country, the company has taken a number of initiatives. The company has made an educational Audio Visual film for customers. The film communicates those factors that help in increasing fuel efficiency. The film also explains the test procedures adopted to arrive at the fuel efficiency of a car.

At the same time, the company has conducted a comprehensive training programme across country for its 14,000 strong dealer sales force. Through this training, the sales force has been equipped with necessary information that a customer may seek on issues related with fuel efficiency.

About Standard Test Conditions:

The approved agencies conduct tests on all the cars under “standard test conditions”. Amongst many parameters, the “standard test conditions” include: 2 persons in the car, AC switched-off; Standard (non-adulterated) fuel; gear changes in a predetermined pattern and at predetermined acceleration levels; standard air pressure in the tyres, wind speed etc. As the “standard test conditions” during tests at the certification agency are identical for all vehicles, irrespective of manufacturer, the customer will able to make correct comparisons of fuel efficiency, across car models.

Source: www.marutisuzuki.com

Maruti Drives 10 Lakh 'Alto' On Indian Roads

18/11/2008 New Delhi Economic Times
The country's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI), is set to complete the sale of 10 lakh units of its small car 'Alto' in the domestic market on Tuesday, after launching it about eight years ago.

The firm completed the production of 10 lakh units of the car in February this year.

A senior company official said that the first five lakh units of the Alto were sold in six years of its launch, while the next five lakh units sales happened within just a little over two years.

Besides the domestic market, MSI exports the car to countries like Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Greece, Austria, Ireland, the UK, France, Italy and Sweden. So far it has exported over 1.8 lakh Altos.

The company plans to start exporting the Alto soon to new markets like Denmark, Hungary and Portugal, the official said.

MSI had launched the Alto in September 2000, with two variants. Currently it sells three variants of the car in the domestic market.

Maruti Eyes 1mn Mark This Year

Country's leading car maker, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, is looking at increasing its current capacity of manufacturing cars, to hit the one million mark by October 2008.

On the sidelines of an interactive meet, the company spokesperson said, within the next month of this year, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, is slated to scale up its current capacity of manufacturing cars from 8,70,000 to one million per year.

Maruti currently has three car manufacturing plants in Gurgaon and one car plant and one diesel engine factory in Manesar, about 20 kilometres away from the Gurgaon car plant.

The plant in Gurgaon has a capacity of manufacturing seven lakh cars per year and the plant in Manesar has a capacity of producing 1,70,000 cars which will be scaled to three lakh per year, while the diesel engine factory currently manufactures one lakh engines which is slated to scale it to three lakh by 2010 with an investment of Rs 2,500 crore.
From October this year, a new K series petrol engine manufacturing plant will go onstream in the Maneswar area, with a target of producing one lakh, 1000 cc petrol engines, which will be the second engine unit of Maruti in the country, at an investment of Rs 1,500 crore.

This apart, the company is also looking at introducing its new car, A star by mid- November this year with a target of producing 50,000 cars in the domestic market and exporting about 1 lakh, mainly eyeing the Europan countries, the middle east, Chillie and Latin America. It will mainly belong to the compact premuim A2 segment, with a price though not fixed, is assumed to be towards Rs 4 lakh with 4 variants. The company plans to start exporting the A star model from January or February, 2009.

In 2007-08 Maruti exported about 53000 cars, across all segments and with the introduction of the A2 variant, it expects its exports to reach 2 lakh cars per year.
Currently the company has capacity of 570, engaged in Research and Development(R&D) which wil increase to 1000 by 2010-11 and by this time the company expects to have full capability of designing a car. Currently about 3.5 per cent of its total sales revenue is used on product, development and design.
With the introduction of new models in the A2 segment, it leads to greater demand of small cars and this car will not affect the market of Swift, which is doing good in the market, added the spokesperson. A star will be the eighth model for Maruti, in less than four years, which will be exported to 150 countries in 750 variants under the names, Alto and Celerio and a derivative model will be produced for Nissan under the name Pixo in Europe and the middle east market.

29/09/2008 KolkataPublicationBusiness Standard