Maruti Suzuki  begun dispatching the BS-IV version of its ‘Alto’ to dealer

According to a couple of Maruti Suzuki dealers based in New Delhi, the company has already begun dispatching the BS-IV version of its ‘Alto’ city car last week. Powered by the same 796cc MPFI gasoline engine with 3-cylinder, 4 valves per with 32bit ECM, the car sports no changes in the exteriors. As far as its interiors are concerned, the company has now changed the seats, which now comes with integrated headrests. Just like the BS-III version, the new emission-compliant Alto is available in three trims, LX, LXI and STD, available in both metallic and non-metallic versions. Even after its engine being retuned, the A1 segment car’s prices have remained unchanged, and retailed in the price bracket of Rs. 2.2- Rs. 2.7 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

India’s largest passenger carmaker, which has lined up a couple of rollouts, including the upcoming WagonR, is looking to touch the one crore cumulative production figure by March 2011. The company, which has so far clocked nearly 88.1 lakh units since it began its production in 1983, has recently achieved the 10 lakh production milestone in a financial year. It is now expecting a 10 per cent surge in the unit sales this fiscal and also expects its domestic automobile market to grow much faster than projected to reach annual sales of 4.5-4.6 million cars by 2015, up from less than 2 million cars a year at present.

“We are well on our way to producing over a crore cars by the end of this financial year,” said I.V. Rao, managing executive officer (engineering), Maruti Suzuki India Limited was quoted as saying to Hindustan Times, adding, “By March we should be able to achieve this target.” Separately, Mayank Pareek, Maruti Suzuki’s executive officer, marketing and sales, told the Hindustan Times: “The industry is on the verge of attaining the critical mass, which is required for the jump to the next level. Looking at the demographics, we will far exceed the 3million sales figure projected for 2015. My bet is that industry sales could be as high as 4.55-4.6 million units. “At that level, market share loses meaning. Our aim is to be in a dominant leadership position.” Pareek added: “We will predominantly remain a small car market despite all the theories of market graduating from small to big cars. At the end of the day, the Indian consumer will always look for value for money.”

The company has set such a target even after phasing out its oldest model M800 from BS-IV compliant cities. Furthermore, the company has maintained that it has has no immediate plans to enter the low-cost segment, even as it phases out its entry level product – the Maruti 800 – from across 13 cities this month onwards.

Speaking at the unveiling of the all-new WagonR, Mr Mayank Pareek, Managing Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki, said, “We don’t have any plans to come in the ultra-low cost segment. Our entry car will now be the Alto – the highest selling in the country.”

Even though Maruti Suzuki has been able to outshine its competitors by being at the top slot in the Indian automotive market, the situation is panning out to be tough for the company itself. As its sales grow, it is getting into the catch-22 situation due to the capacity constraints. With the plants already operating at their 100 per cent capacity, it is clear that the auto major is certainly not in its comfort zone right now. Business Standard claims that the company can only raise its capacity now in 2012. Hence, till then the engineers will have a tough time by putting innovations at work trying to minimize the capacity constraints at the automaker.

Maruti’s sales and service network will also be ramped up with increased volumes. “In 2009-10, we aggressively expanded our sales and service network and my ultimate aim is to have 1,500 dealerships so that the company has a presence in every small town with a population of 50,000,” Pareek told Hindustan Times recently.

source: WheelsUnplugged

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