The Hindu : Business : Maruti rolls out new-look Esteem

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Tuesday, Jul 06, 2004

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Business

Maruti rolls out new-look Esteem

By Our Special Correspondent

— Photo: Kamal Narang

The Managing Director of Maruti Udyog, Jagdish Khattar, with the Director, Marketing and Sales, K. Saito, at the launch of new Esteem in New Delhi on Monday.

NEW DELHI, JULY 5. Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) today rolled out a new-look mid-size sedan Esteem at Rs. 40,000 less than the price of the existing car with the idea of boosting its market share.

While the base model of the Esteem variant has been priced at Rs. 4.25 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi), the top-end VXi version will carry a price tag of Rs. 4.90 lakhs. The intermediate variant LXi will cost Rs. 4.55 lakhs.

Speaking to media persons on the occasion, the MUL Managing Director, Jagdish Khattar, said the performance and fuel efficiency of the Esteem were widely acknowledged.

At this price, the new Esteem was attractive, Mr. Khattar asserted explaining the strategy of competitive pricing by adding that the aggressive pricing had been made possible by the successful cost reduction programme undertaken by the company two years ago.

"Our initiatives on the new `Esteem' are in line with Maruti's increased focus on the entry-level mid-size car market of the domestic passenger car market," Mr. Khattar said.

The engineers of Suzki have in fact developed in India the new entry-level mid-size car with 1300cc MPI engine. The new version of the Esteem would help Maruti garner a considerable share in the mid-size car market, which was growing at a considerable pace.

It is pitted against Ford's Ikon and Tata's Indigo. The Esteem, which was launched about ten years ago, has 1.3-litre MPI engine. Till date, MUL has sold 1.75 lakh units of the car.

The in-house design of the upcoming Esteem would help the company launch more variants in future. At present, Esteem is available is five variants. Sales of Esteem grew 10 per cent at 11,500 units last year.

Two-wheeler exchange

PTI reports:

Maruti is experimenting with the concept of exchanging a used two-wheeler for a brand new or used four-wheeler. "The company is pilot testing the project in Hyderabad with one of our dealers and we expect to extend this to rest of the country soon," Mr. Khattar said after launching the new look Esteem. Around 40 million two-wheeler owners in India would get an opportunity to upgrade to a family car, he added.

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