Indian Car Blog – Carazoo.com

Maruti Suzuki’s Sept sales decline 20.8 percent

Bogged by labour issues and weak consumer sentiment, Maruti Suzuki, reported a decline of 20.8 per cent in its sales for the month of September, at 85,565 units as against 108,006 units in the same period of last fiscal.

The company admitted that the disruption of its production facility at Manesar, Haryana, due to labour issues had severely hampered and impacted sales and distribution of the Maruti Suzuki vehicles. In a statement the company issued it said, “The disruption in production owing to the labour issue at the company’s Manesar plant during September adversely impacted the sales numbers during the month.”

The Manesar plant manufactures Swift, SX4 and A-star cars. Segment-wise, the company reported a decline of 23.5 per cent in its best-selling compact class brands such as Maruti 800, Alto, A-Star and WagonR with the total sales at 37,324 as against 48,780 in the same period of 2009-10.

The sales of mid-size compact car segment, which includes brands such as Swift, Estilo and Ritz, came down by 9.3 per cent at 19,722 units as compared to 21,749 units in the corresponding month of last fiscal. Cars such as Dzire too reported a decrease of 9.9 per cent in sales at 9,411 units from 8,566 units reported in September, 2010.

Sales of sedan segment cars including SX4 declined dramatically by 90 per cent in the month under-review and stood at 196 units as compared to 1,965 units in the same period in 2010.

posted by carazooblog @ Monday, October 3rd, 2011 Comments Off links to this post

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July 7, 2011

Maruti Suzuki achieves 10 lakh production mark of K-series engine

Every Dark Cloud Has a Silver Lining…So goes the proverb… Well Maruti Suzuki, the country’s largest carmaker was in the eye of the storm for a month now over the labour unrest and depleting sales for the month of June. But just when we thought Maruti Suzuki was caught up in its own woes, here comes a piece of news that makes us raise our glasses for a toast to the auto maker.

Maruti Suzuki, on Wednesday claimed that the production of the famous fuel efficient yet powerful K-Series engines crossed the 10 lakh units mark within three years of starting the output. The K-Series Engine powers Maruti Suzuki’s bestsellers such as WagonR, Swift, Estilo and Alto-K10.

It must be remembered that the company first launched the K-series engine with its flagship export model A-Star in October 2008, it added. The K-series engines are produced at the company’s Gurgaon facility.

Commenting on the achievement, Maruti Suzuki India Chief General Manager (Marketing) Shashank Srivastava said: “We feel proud that customers have really appreciated our offerings mounted with the next generation K-series engine. As market leader, we have continuously improved the technologies over the years.”

Of the total production in achieving the milestone, Maruti Suzuki has fitted the K-series engine in over 3.5 lakh units of A-Star, 1.9 lakh units of WagonR, 1.36 lakh units of Alto K-10, 1.05 lakh units of Estilo, 1.24 lakh units of Swift and 95,000 units of Ritz.

The numbers have a tale to tell…

posted by carazooblog @ Thursday, July 7th, 2011 Comments Off links to this post

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June 22, 2011

Strike fails to sway demand for other brands

maruti-suzuki-manesar
The recent 13-day labour-management standoff at Maruti Suzuki India’s Manesar plant might have pushed the production of the Maruti cars to a corner, but it did not dent the Maruti Suzuki brand image in any way as the demand for Maruti cars, despite the extended waiting period, is very much present.

However, the two-week long disruption in production resulted in a loss of 12,600 units or nearly Rs 450 crore, customers still vouch for the Maruti Suzuki diesel cars such as Swift, Dzire and SX4 and the waiting period for these cars have just grown out of proportion.

Just when the industry pundits predicted that the car customers would sway to other carmakers that had ready stock of diesel cars, the customers proved the pundits wrong by showing their loyalty to the diesel Maruti cars inspite of the long waiting periods for these cars.

Although a latest version of the Swift is expected in a few weeks in India, this had little or no impact on the demand of the existing Swift. The diesel model of the car continued to have an average waiting period of more than three months in most market across the country.

The Swift remains the top selling premium hatchback from the market leader followed by Ritz in the same segment of Rs 4,30,000 and above. Since the gap between the price of petrol and diesel only widened over the past one year, consumers have increasingly preferred to go for diesel models despite their higher price tags.

posted by carazooblog @ Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 Comments Off links to this post

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April 7, 2011

Maruti Suzuki to recall 13,157 diesel cars

Just when we thought the recall season was over, it is back in our own backyard yet again. Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), the country’s largest car maker, on Wednesday said it would recall 13,157 diesel cars manufactured between November 13 and December 4, 2010, to examine a possible faulty engine part.
The recall will include 4,505 units of Swift Dzire, 6,841 units of Swift and 1,811 units of Ritz. It does not include any exported car.

Maruti Suzuki said it will inspect a connecting rod bolt in these cars and “if it is found defective, the company will replace the component free of cost”. The new part has already been dispatched to dealer workshops and the dealers would contact car owners.

The Swift, Swift Dzire and Ritz are among MSIL’s best-selling cars, constituting around a quarter of its sales. Maruti sells 12,000 units of Swift, 10,000 units of Dzire and 6,000 units of Ritz a month. The diesel variants make up nearly half of these cars’ sales.

It must be recalled that that MSIL in February last year had recalled 100,000 units of hatchback A-Star from domestic and overseas markets. It had recalled the cars to fix faulty fuel pump gaskets and O-ring, which could leak if the fuel tank is filled to the brim.

Earlier in February this year, Japanese automobile manufacturer Honda Motor Corporation, through its Indian subsidiary, Honda Siel Cars India, recalled 57,853 units of its mid-sized sedan City in India to replace a faulty engine part as part of a global exercise. The company recalled these cars to carry out preventive part replacement of defective lost motion springs, which could cause engines to stall and result in problems in re-starting cars. MSIL sold 1.27 million cars last financial year, 24.8 per cent more than 1.02 million units sold in 2009-10.

posted by carazooblog @ Thursday, April 7th, 2011 Comments Off links to this post

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February 11, 2011

Fiat 1.3L Multi-Jet Reaches 4 Million Units Production Milestone

Fiat Multi-jet engines 4000000 units produced
If there is one engine that Indians love unconditionally, it has to be the Multijet engine from Fiat. The Fiat engine has been in India for a long time now. In fact, it is so popular in our country that Fiat has sold more Multijet engines in India than its cars. Fiat scores a major portion of its profits in India by selling engines. In fact, Fiat also banked in on the popularity of this engine with the ‘Fiat Diesel Drives India’ campaign.

Just look at the trend in the Indian market: almost 95 per cent of the time, you would find a Multijet engine in a diesel hatchback. Most of the popular diesel hatchbacks as well as sedans in India, such Punto, Fiat 500, Linea, Palio, Ritz, Swift, Swift DZire, Vista, Manza, and the soon-to-be-launched diesel SX4, feature the Fiat Multijet engine.

Even the Chevrolet Beat is expected to feature the revered 3-cylinder Multi-jet engine (chopped-block), to be launched later this year.

All right, we are done with the background of the engine. The Fiat Multijet engine has now clocked another big milestone. The Italian company has announced that the 4 millionth 1.3 16v Multijet engine has left the plant in Bielsko Biala, Poland, on February 4, 2011.This 4 millionth unit, fitted in a Fiat 500, has been sold to a French customer.

The Fiat Multijet engine is available in various capacities ranging from 1.3L to a much mightier 3.0L. The engine is also available in a turbocharged and a non turbocharged format. Another famous thing about the engine: in 2005, the Multijet 75 PS version was chosen as the International Engine of the Year. And considering the number of new cars coming up in the Indian market, we would not be surprised if the many more cars get their power from the Multijet engine.

posted by carazooblog @ Friday, February 11th, 2011 Comments Off links to this post

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September 17, 2010

Maruti May Launch Diesel SX4 by March 2011

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Maruti Suzuki has two sedans in the country. However, only one of them runs in the diesel form. Maruti Suzuki has now decided to have a diesel variant of its SX4 sedan just like the diesel Swift DZire. Maruti wants to launch the new car by the end of this fiscal.

Maruti already sells the petrol-powered SX4. The new diesel-powered SX4, however, will enter the battlefield to compete against other diesel cars in the mid-C segment like the Hyundai Verna, Ford Fiesta, Chevy Optra, Fiat Linea and the new VW Vento.

Maruti Suzuki uses the power-packed 1.3-litre diesel engine sourced from Fiat in the Swift DZire. The same engine is used in the Maruti Swift and Ritz hatchbacks too. The motor squeezes out 75 bhp of power. The possibility of using the more powerful version of the 1.3-litre diesel motor was thought of since the Maruti already manufactures it locally. The costs would then certainly be low.

How about planting a 1.6-litre diesel engine in the new car? Maruti’s parent company Suzuki employs the Fiat-sourced 1.6 litre diesel engine in global markets. But, right now, we would have to rule out that possibility as Suzuki has opted out of using the same engine in the country. The auto maker says setting up a new plant for it would prove expensive.

Sources say the upcoming Maruti Suzuki SX4 diesel model is right now enduring extensive testing and is likely to be launched by March next year. Wonder why it should take so long! It’s probably the capacity constraints the car maker is experiencing due to increased demand. Maruti Swift and Swift DZire come along with long waiting periods as its four production lines in Gurgaon and Manesar are unable to meet demand.

What must have triggered the idea of diesel SX4 launch all of a sudden? Well, of late, the segment has been witnessing strong growth. These days, Indians looking for sedans go for the diesel versions as diesel is cheaper than petrol. Also, the new-gen diesel motors have proven themselves efficient and low on maintenance. Why then would someone prefer petrol over diesel?

Maruti Suzuki seems to have realized the potential of the diesel car market and thought it high time to grab its share of benefits that car makers with diesel offerings like VW, Skoda, Toyota, Ford and Hyundai are enjoying. “A diesel sedan at a reasonable price may have very high demand. But, due to the capacity constraint at Manesar, where it makes the SX4, it may be delaying the launch of the diesel version,” said the source.

Angel Broking analyst, Ms Vaishali Jajoo, says, “From 25 per cent of the overall car market, diesel car sales have risen to 30 per cent over the last few years. People prefer going for diesel sedans because of the cheaper costs of fuel and the higher fuel efficiency.”

posted by carazooblog @ Friday, September 17th, 2010 Comments Off links to this post

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August 12, 2010

Who Will Pay Royalty in 2015? Maruti or Suzuki?

As we all know, India’s largest auto maker, Maruti Suzuki has been making high royalty payments to parent company Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan. But few years from now, the situation may reverse. Wonder what’s going to happen and how? Read on!

Suzuki is drawing plans and doing all it can to build up a technology centre in India. The auto major believes it will receive final touches by 2015 after which it will be fully functional. Once this happens, don’t you think there’s more sense in Suzuki paying royalty to Maruti Suzuki contradictory to what’s happening now? The R&D centre will possibly be the focal point of Suzuki’s worldwide operations.

Maruti Suzuki chairman RC Bhargava too believes that once Suzuki starts sourcing technology from the company’s R&D centre at Rohtak the trend may reverse. “There is logic in Suzuki Motor paying a royalty to Maruti…the issue is bound to be addressed at an appropriate time. However, there’s no point discussing something that will come up in 2015,” Bhargava added. That’s an intelligent thought. Put forth your ideas at the right time.

royalties

This royalty payment matter, however, has spread like wildfire with auto industry analysts and media hyping it further. They hungry ears savoured the spicy news at two recent occasions. Firstly, when Maruti Suzuki’s market share in India went below 50 per cent for the first time in history, the blame was put on the royalty payment. The car maker’s net profit declined 20 per cent due to the high royalty payout.

Maruti paid a royalty of Rs 188.70 Crore or 5.9 per cent of its total revenues to Suzuki during Q1. The amount, however, included some arrears too resulting from revision in royalty. The government has removed the cap of 5 per cent on sales in the domestic market and 8 per cent on overseas sales. Suzuki had thus revised the royalty rates. As of now, royalty and similar technical payments have become a matter of concern for Maruti Suzuki as they add up as the second largest cost eaters after raw materials.

Meanwhile, parent Suzuki posted a seven-fold jump in its profit during the same April-June quarter with net profit of Rs 814 crore. Now, that was the second time when the royalty payment matter rose. These higher profits were on expense of a steep jump in sales from Maruti Suzuki’s refreshed WagonR and Swift.

Abdul Majeed, auto analyst with PricewaterhouseCoopers said that since leading global OEMs are looking to make India their R&D hub due to the cost effectiveness, Indian companies could soon start demanding royalty for their technology. Very true indeed! “The technology hubs are slowly shifting from developed countries to the developing countries. In the medium to long term, India and China are going to become R&D hubs for several global automakers…in case of Maruti, they are going to expect a royalty from the parent firm,” Majeed said.

The R&D centre in India spread over 700 acres of land and on which Suzuki is investing Rs 1,500 Crore, will be the car maker’s first R&D centre outside Japan. Phase 1 of the project will be completed by 2012. A year ago, the car maker had said that Maruti Suzuki would design and roll out a new car that would be completely developed in the country. Do come back while we get you updates on the same!

posted by carazooblog @ Thursday, August 12th, 2010 Comments Off links to this post

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June 25, 2010

Top Ten Models – May 2010

The new month is just a week away and it is time for Carazoo to look back at the car sales. Of course, this month is not over yet, but sure, we can look back at last month’s car sales. Do join us in congratulating the ten largest selling models of May 2010. However, there are not many surprises as the top selling models refuse to move away from our top ten list month after month.

While Maruti Suzuki carved a niche for itself with sales of over 100,000in a single month, individual models in its portfolio also made record sales. The unbeatable Maruti Suzuki Alto at #1 as usual recorded sales of 25,340 units accounting for a quarter of the company’s May 2010 sales. Interestingly, Maruti Suzuki Swift and Hyundai i10 have been blind to everything else except their immediate competitors. The i10 which occupied the third spot a month earlier has zoomed ahead of the Swift with sales of 13,401 units. Swift has got back to its earlier #3 spot with sales of 12,760 cars.

At #4 just like the previous month, we have WagonR. If 11,775 units of the model were sold in April, 11,948 units were sold in May. That’s what we call consistency. Sales of the Indica fell in the month by over 500 units, resulting in the model getting the #6 slot in May sales while Maruti Suzuki Swift DZire moved one spot higher to #5. 9,335 Swift DZires were sold compared to Tata Indica’s 8,468 units sales.

May was not a very heart-warming for the Hyundai Santro. Sales of the model dropped by almost 2,000 units moving it from April’s #7 to the #10 spot in May. The Hyundai Santro had just 5,498 units sold in May. However, this proved lucky for April’s bottom three of the top ten list as they could climb a step higher. Our legendary Omni moved to the #7 spot. 7,247 units were sold in April and the number has now increased to 7,728.

Tata Indigo too which was at #9 for 3 consecutive months moved a notch higher to #8. Congratulations, but Indigo, we see your sales dipping! What’s the matter? 7,537 units were sold in March, 7,201 cars sold in April, and now, in May we see sales of just 6,600 Indigos. Better luck next time. The just-launched Figo stormed into the top ten list in March after car buyers were clearly drawn to its ultra-competitive pricing, stylish looks and solid build. It is at #9 this month with sales of 6,327 units. At #10, as mentioned earlier, is the Santro with 5,498 units sold in May.

Meanwhile, the Volkswagen Polo recorded sales of 1,314 cars as against 901 sold in April. Way to go Polo! In other segments, the Honda Civic, which recorded sales of 188 in April is back to its monthly average of 500+ sales clocking 533 units in the month. In the SUV segment, the Toyota Fortuner clocked sales of 969 units and with a substantial waiting list for the vehicle, some dealers have refused to take more bookings. In the luxury car segment, Audi recorded sales of 200 units as against 121 in the month a year ago. Audi’s sales are eating into competitors like BMW and Mercedes.

posted by carazooblog @ Friday, June 25th, 2010 Comments Off links to this post

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June 11, 2010

New Swift Unveiled in Hungary – Old Vs New

2011-Suzuki-Swift-21
Suzuki is pleased to announce the first images and preliminary information of the new, third generation Suzuki Swift which goes on sale in the UK in the autumn of 2010. But is everyone else as happy as the car creator? No. The two cars, the old and the new Swift, can actually be placed next to each other for a ‘spot the difference’ contest. We bet it’s going to be real hard to identify the very minor changes. Where are the changes Suzuki?

Suzuki held the world premiere line off ceremony for mass production of the new car at its Magyar Suzuki Corporation production facility at Esztergom, in Hungary. The all-new Suzuki Swift has been positioned as Suzuki’s latest world strategic model and has believed to be making strong improvements in styling, impact safety, driving performance, handling, improved fuel efficiency and appreciably lower emissions. Let’s get in to the details.

As far as looks are concerned, we can see that there’s hardly any difference. But, to be noted is the greater use of higher strength steel that makes the new Swift’s body shell lighter and stiffer than earlier and there’s refinement in the under-body design as well. Suzuki says the new Swift has improved impact safety for pedestrians as well as occupants. Let’s trust them for now.

The handling is gotta be even better than the current Swift because of the increased track and larger diameter wheels with lower profile tyres. The interiors too now send across a more vibrant feel; there’s black everywhere with streaks of silver accentuating the beauty. The new Swift has grown slightly in length (+90mm) with a 50mm increase in wheelbase. Well, that’s enough of an increase. The Swift’s butt was already too big occupying the road from east to west. So, just an increase in length and wheelbase seems to be an intelligent decision. We had a post written about the Swift going bareback the other day, remember?

For the powertrain, a new 1.2-litre petrol engine incorporating Dual VVT (Variable intake and exhaust valve timing) is utilised which delivers 92.71 bhp at 6,000 rpm. This power is somewhat higher than that produced by the outgoing 1.3-litre motor. The Torque too shows an improvement; 118 Nm at 4,800 rpm. The new car offers a mileage of 24.02 kmpl, impressive ah? That mileage is for the manual transmission model. It displays an improvement of 3.32 kmpl over the earlier 1.3-litre unit.

Emissions too are significantly lower; the new 1.2-litre engine with manual transmission produces just 116 g/km; 24 g/km lesser than the 1.3 motor. A little later an optional automatic transmission may also be available for the petrol engine. And who knows, Suzuki may also revamp India’s Swift DZire and launch it in overseas markets, may be after two years or so.

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Early next year, UK may also have the privilege of a 1.3-litre diesel engine new Swift which would emit 109 g/km (down from 119 g/km). This model will deliver 28.61 kmpl, an improvement on an already convincing 26.7 kmpl of the Suzuki Swift DDiS. This Euro 5 engine has more accurate engine management than before with reduced levels of mechanical friction for smoother running and flexibility.

As for this new Swift in India, we may see it some time next year. Hope Maruti Suzuki keeps the pricing competitive like it always does, to ward off competition from the VW Polo, Ford Figo and Nissan’s Micra. It would be better if the model came with slightly larger windows that are not so high for the low-lying seats. Maruti Suzuki, are you listening?