India’s largest auto maker is geared up to transform into a global design hub. Maruti Suzuki is right now transforming its plans of rolling out an India-made global car in the next four years into action. The company is currently busy with its first made-in-India car for the Indian market which is likely to premiere in a couple of years.

The new Alto K10 was launched on Wednesday and this is Maruti Suzuki managing executive officer, Mr I.V. Rao had to say, “In 2014, we are likely to introduce a model, which is not just meant for the Indian market, but also for the more developed markets such as Europe and Japan.” So, we believe the work on the global model will launch soon.

Maruti Suzuki’s caretaker, Suzuki Motors Corporation has already begun looking at India as a global design hub for its small cars. “In order to boost Maruti’s research and development capabilities in India, we have hired 1,000 engineers,” he said. That’s quite a number to prove that the company has begun working on the plans.

To take care of the specific needs of the Indian car buyer, Maruti Suzuki wants to envision and design small cars in the country, and we know by now that the car maker is all set to roll out its first made-in-India car by the end of 2012. This new car, though conceived, designed and developed in India will use one of the company’s existing platforms.

For now, we believe the model would fit into the A2 segment and will carry a price in the range Rs 5-6 Lakh. Everybody saw Maruti Suzuki’s recent dip in market share in the country. The undisputed leader finally has some competition. The company’s market share went below 50 per cent for the first time in history.

However, Maruti Suzuki is confident not about continuing its dominance in the Indian car market. More launches will happen and existing models will be refreshed to meet the demands of the changing times. CNG variants of the Alto, WagonR, Zen Estilo, Eeco and SX4 will hit the roads on August 13 while the Kizashi sedan will enter India early next year.

Meanwhile, we also hear that the car maker is looking at increasing its sales outlets across India to 1,500 in the next five years. Right now India houses 828 Maruti Suzuki sales outlets and the will almost be doubled in the next five years. The car maker wants to flaunt its presence in every taluk and district in India. Maruti, which sells 8000 cars per month in Kerala, has 59 sales outlets there which will perhaps be increased to 100 in the next five years.