The Hindu : Business : Maruti launches compact car

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 26, 2005

Business

Business

Maruti launches compact car

Special Correspondent

Swift, priced at Rs. 3.87 lakh (ex-Delhi), to hit the road on June 6

NEW DELHI: Gearing itself to take the competition head-on, Maruti Udyog Ltd. on Wednesday launched premium compact car Swift in the Indian market aggressively pricing the base model at Rs. 3.87 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

Swanky looking car with the 1.3-litre petrol engine Swift, hailed as Suzuki's world car, will hit the Indian roads on June 6 when the formal delivery begins. The car will have three variants which are being offered at what the country's car maker called `introductory prices' that will be maintained for a `reasonable time', which, however, was left unspelt. The VXi variant of the car, which saw participation by 25 Indian engineers from Maruti at the design stage, has been priced at Rs. 4.05 lakh and the top-end ZXi, which carries features like automatic climate control and dual front airbags, will cost Rs. 4.85 lakh.

Apparently, the new model from Maruti takes Hyundai Motor India's latest offering Getz head-on. The Getz too had been positioned as a premium compact car and carries a 1.3-litre engine even if it is priced relatively higher with the base model carrying a price tag of Rs. 4.5 lakh.

However, the market seemed not to have responded favourably to the model as the company could sell only 11,011 units, or just above 1,300 a month, till April this year after its launch in September 2004. Similarly, the other main competitors to Swift — Fiat Palio and Corsa Sail — have also not managed enough numbers to be able to offer it any fight. During an interaction with media persons, MUL Managing Director, Jagdish Khattar, said the dealers had reported that they had received about 8,000-9,000 bookings of the model even before its launch..

A company official said the company had planned production of 200 units of the model a day, which takes its sales target to about 6,000 units a month.

On Suzuki's plans to use India as a production base for the Swift to export it to other markets, he said there were no immediate plans. "However, we will be exporting it to neighbouring markets," Mr. Khattar added.

With the participation of Indian engineers during the design stage, the car has many India-relevant features. "These include a higher ground clearance, more headroom in the rear, a more robust suspension and more powerful air-conditioning," the company said, adding that the car carries a high 86 per cent localisation.

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