Maruti Suzuki is aggressively working on an all-new car, as Maruti's engineers embark on an independent full-model change capability, something not attempted before, managing executive officer (engineering) IV Rao said.
Rao, who declined to speak about the pricing of the new vehicle, said the idea was to develop a car that would co-exist with the Alto, the country's largest-selling car with monthly volumes averaging over 30,000 units. He shot down suggestions that the new car would be a renewed version, or fresh attempt, to revive the M800 model that has already made its way out of 13 top metros (due to stricter emission norms) and will be phased out gradually from the rest of the country in the coming years.
"This will be an all-new car, though based on an existing platform. The idea is to do it in-house at Maruti, with minimal support from our Japanese parent, Suzuki," Rao said. Maruti engineers have done facelifts on some of the existing models previously while also assisting Suzuki during the development of some global models such as the Swift and the A-Star.
The car will be meant primarily for the Indian market, he said, adding that the idea behind the model was to "constantly introduce new models while also developing the company's R&D capability to develop, design and engineer a model on its own."
Also, the company wants to fill the gap created by the phase-out of the M800. "It will be no less than a milestone for us," Rao said.
"It may co-exist with the Alto and we want to have a two-model strategy at the entry-end of the market, like we have on the upper segments where we have a multi-model approach with cars like Ritz, Swift and WagonR pitched around the same price bracket," sources said.
"This will be an all-new car, though based on an existing platform. The idea is to do it in-house at Maruti, with minimal support from our Japanese parent, Suzuki," I V Rao, managing executive officer, said.
Rao, who declined to speak about the pricing of the new vehicle, said the idea was to develop a car that would co-exist with the Alto, the country's largest-selling car with monthly volumes averaging over 30,000 units. He shot down suggestions that the new car would be a renewed version, or fresh attempt, to revive the M800 model that has already made its way out of 13 top metros (due to stricter emission norms) and will be phased out gradually from the rest of the country in the coming years.
"This will be an all-new car, though based on an existing platform. The idea is to do it in-house at Maruti, with minimal support from our Japanese parent, Suzuki," Rao said. Maruti engineers have done facelifts on some of the existing models previously while also assisting Suzuki during the development of some global models such as the Swift and the A-Star.
Also, the company wants to fill the gap created by the phase-out of the M800. "It will be no less than a milestone for us," Rao said.
"It may co-exist with the Alto and we want to have a two-model strategy at the entry-end of the market, like we have on the upper segments where we have a multi-model approach with cars like Ritz, Swift and WagonR pitched around the same price bracket," sources said.
"This will be an all-new car, though based on an existing platform. The idea is to do it in-house at Maruti, with minimal support from our Japanese parent, Suzuki," I V Rao, managing executive officer, said.
