Reports suggest that Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest car manufacturer, is not investing in engines until a policy on auto fuel is implemented. Mayank Pareek, Maruti Suzuki’s Managing EO (Executive Officer) told that the company would not commit any further in creating engines until there is a new policy on auto fuel.
The report also suggested that the company was in a jinx as to invest in petrol or diesel engines due to the alarming rise in petrol prices and the demand for diesel cars is on the high. He also said that the company’s debate on investing in petrol or diesel engines was ongoing and a big question mark for now. The demand for diesel cars has grown to 80% over the last four months when it was just 60% all over the industry.
Cars like Maruti Swift, Dzire and Maruti Ritz are manufactured in the company’s Manesar plant where the production was around 2.4 lakhs. The report further revealed that Maruti Suzuki would up the production of these cars to 3 lakhs by the end of the year. There is also a thought of diesel engines being outsourced from the company’s underused Fiat plant in Pune. Diesel engines for Swift were so far being done with Fiat under a licensed agreement. Mayank Pareek further told that they have to see whether these engines produced could really be fitted into Maruti cars at the Fiat plant. The report also stated that Pareek feels that Indian Auto Industry would grow to a massive 50 lakhs by 2015. Considering all these, plans are to grab 50% of market share by Maruti Suzuki.