Maruti pushes the envelope

Maruti Udyog is working towards the complete design of a car in India by 2010-11. Evidence comes from the increasing role of its engineers in designing and developing models for India. "Step-by-step, we are taking our capability towards designing a full car," Mayank Pareek, general manager, marketing, told Autocar Professional.

Maruti's designers and engineers spent 18 months fine-tuning the latest WagonR, which has seen 23 changes including engine tune-up that improves fuel efficiency by 10 percent. The new WagonR's exterior answers critics of the earlier boxy version with redesigned front and rear ends.

Except for a few gears and a couple of sensors, all components on the refreshed WagonR are sourced in India which puts the localisation level close to 96 percent. "It has been mandated that we be part of overall Suzuki R&D. More and more responsibility will be given to Maruti engineers," CV Raman, general manager, engineering-2 division, told this correspondent.

After implementing some minor changes on the Zen, Esteem, Alto and Omni models, the big bet for Maruti engineers came with the Swift. Twenty-five of them went to Suzuki, Japan, to work on this model for two years. They learnt a lot through the development of the Swift, which sold 61,200 units in its first year of launch.

The new WagonR, whose entire engineering was done in-house, is another forward step in building up design capabilities of Indian engineers. Maruti already controls the design and development of models for India, including localisation strategy and vendor selection.

The company also launched the Duo WagonR, its new dual- fuel variant that can run on both petrol and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). "We took a tentative step three years ago to enter the LPG market with the Omni. The response has been phenomenal," said Pareek.

Some would question why Maruti chose LPG instead of compressed natural gas (CNG) which works out to be cheaper on cost. However, its availability is still an issue. Currently, CNG is retailed in only five cities while this is 42 in the case of LPG. In Delhi alone, there are seven LPG outlets. "We have spoken to oil and gas companies. They have a very aggressive plan to expand LPG," added Pareek.

The launch of the new WagonR and Duo WagonR is part of Maruti's strategy to introduce new models every year as well as upgrade its existing line of products. By year-end, it will come out with the MR Wagon as well as the Swift diesel version to further stamp its dominance in the Indian car market.