Raising of Maruti Suzuki SX4 sales

Maruti Suzuki considered one of the most reliable car manufacturing companies India is on a high with its increase sales recently. SX4 the sedan was launched by the company in 2007 and until then has been in competition with various established models. Also Maruti SX4 has seen a growth of 32% as compared to last year as given in the company reports.

In March the company saw a huge change in sales figures of SX4 with a rise of 33.1% as compared to its previous performance. Other cars like Honda City, Toyota Corolla Altis who have a core competition with this car have seen a fall in their sales due to less production my be due to natural disaster in Japan. Though the companies assure that the condition will soon be in control, Maruti is taking and enjoying full advantage of the current market condition.

Recently Maruti launched SX4 diesel in February, 2011 with features like 1.3 litre DDiS with VGT engine, with fuel efficiency of 16km p/l in city and 19km p/l on highway. SX4 has its previous versions in Petrol as well and the price of this sedan is in 7.74-10 lakh brackets. With range of cars suiting every pocket and need, from small family car like Zen, WagonR to luxury cars like Kizashi, the company has something for everyone.

Maruti has been the leader of the Indian car market for over two and a half decades. The company has two manufacturing facilities located at Gurgaon and Manesar. The company plans to expand its manufacturing capacity of 1.75 million by 2013. For this the company will be investing around Rs. 60 Billion over the period till 2013. Hoping, Maruti with future planning makes it even bigger than the current increase.

Wheels of power burn Rs 2.63cr hole in exchequer’s pocket

The Digambar Kamat-led government has spent Rs 2.63 crore on 33 vehicles for its ministers and secretaries since June 2007.

This was revealed in a reply to a question tabled in the ongoing assembly. Of these vehicles, Kamat himself has three-two for personal use and one for his staff. While the Honda City cost the exchequers Rs 8.77 lakh and the Toyota Corolla was priced at Rs 12.52 lakh, the CM’s staff are using a Hyundai i10 priced at Rs 3.61 lakh.

Following in the CM’s tracks is home minister Ravi Naik who also has a Honda City and a Toyota Corolla. The former was bought after he declared his previous vehicle was involved in an accident; the latter was bought after rules were "relaxed" for Naik as a "special case", the reply states.

Incidentally, rules were relaxed for Dayanand Narvekar’s Toyota Corolla HI (Rs 9.98 lakh) and Francisco ‘Mickky’ Pacheco’s Toyota Corolla Altis (Rs 11.70 lakh) too. The vehicles were purchased when the duo served as ministers for information technology and tourism respectively.

On the other hand, health minister Vishwajit Rane has a Toyota Corolla Altis to complement his Honda City after he declared that his previous vehicle was involved in an accident. And speaking of accidents, advocate general Subodh Kantak declared the same and is now driven around in a Honda City VTEC worth Rs 9 lakh.

Present tourism minister Nilkanth Halarnkar got a Honda City worth Rs 7 lakh on his appointment as parliamentary secretary, while Francisco Silveira, previously seen in a Maruti SX4 worth Rs 6.30 lakh, got a Tata Safari worth Rs 10.30 lakh as well on being appointed parliamentary secretary.

Meanwhile, the Toyota Corolla or Honda City are the favoured wheels of revenue minister Jose Philip D’Souza, transport minister Ramkrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar and power minister Aleixo Sequeira, while PWD minister Churchill Alemao, sports minister Manohar Azgaonkar and opposition leader Manohar Parrikar prefer the Innova.

The legislators aside, 12 vehicles were bought for state secretaries. The vehicles ranged in price from Rs 4.53 lakh to Rs 9 lakh.

Maruti SX4 bookings cross 5,000 unit mark

The diesel version of Maruti SX4, which was recently rolled-out in the Indian market, is receiving an overwhelming response from the buyers in the country. The company has already received more than 5,000 bookings for the car in the Indian market. The SX4 model was already available in the petrol version, and the addition of Maruti SX4 diesel version has further strengthened the position of SX4 series in the country along with enabling it to compete more promptly with the likes of Hyundai Verna Transform, Toyota Etios, Volkswagen Vento, Honda City, etc.

Speaking to the reporters, Mr. Shashank Srivastava, Chief General Manager, Marketing, Maruti Suzuki India, said, "We have received an overwhelming response for the SX4 diesel. Our target was 2000 units per month but with this kind of response we will have to work harder to cater to the demand."

The SX4 diesel model was launched in the Indian market about a month back in February 2011 in the price bracket of Rs 7,90,351 to Rs 9,12,441. The car offers a high fuel efficiency of 21.5 kmpl. The SX4 diesel model sports a 1.3L Super Turbo DDiS engine which is capable of generating a peak power of 90PS.

Maruti SX4 diesel bookings sail past 5,000

Its been less than a month since the Maruti Suzuki diesel was announced and prior to the launch questions were raised on how the SX4 could compete with powerful offerings that will occupy this segment in the next few months.

But things have turned out to be profitable for Maruti Suzuki who has registered over 5,000 bookings for the diesel model.

Shashank Srivastava, Chief General Manager, Marketing, Maruti Suzuki India –

    We have received an overwhelming response for the SX4 diesel. Our target was 2,000 units per month but with this kind of response we will have to work harder to cater to the demand.

The triumph of the SX4 diesel prompts the question – What took MSIL this long to offer the SX4 in diesel guise?

Handling this level of demand will be tough for Maruti whose assumptions have clearly gone for a toss. Arrival of the new Fiesta and new Verna in the next few months will provide lucrative options for impatient customers who are bound to walk away towards brands with better image.

Nevertheless the diesel engine will foster further growth of the SX4 brand.

Diesel variant boosts up the sliding sales of Maruti’s SX4

The recently launched diesel version of SX4 is proving to be the magic charm for Maruti Suzuki’s passenger car brand whose sales failed to meet the expectations of India’s biggest carmaker.

While sales of SX4’s petrol variant were floundering, its diesel variant has received more than 5,000 bookings since its launch on February 22. “The bookings for SX4 diesel have crossed the 5,000-mark since its launch. We had planned to manufacture 2,000 diesel variants of SX4 per month. But with this kind of demand, we will ramp up production of the SX4 diesel,” said Shashank Srivastava, chief general manager-marketing, Maruti Suzuki India.

Srivastava added, “We were selling 1,800 SX4 units per month last year. But, since the launch of SX4 diesel, we sold over 3,534 units of the petrol and diesel variants last month.”

SX4 competes with Honda’s City, Hyundai’s Verna and Ford’s Fiesta among others. Its petrol version has undergone several changes since its launch in 2007 to increase customer acceptance. However, its sales remained constant at 1,800 units per month.

According to an estimate of SIAM (Society of Automobile Manufacturers), 70 per cent of sales in the A3 segment comes from diesel-powered cars. Sales of A3 segment cars have risen 33 per cent to around 3.3 lakh during the April 2010-February 2011 period, compared with the year-ago period.

Maruti Suzuki expects to double SX4 sales numbers on the back of the diesel model. It sources the super-turbo direct diesel injection engine from Fiat, according to Srivastava.

Meanwhile, the company is anticipating problems in the sales and delivery of its premium sedan Kizashi following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, as it is imported as a completely built-up unit.

“Kizashi stock will be affected since the ports are closed owing to the tsunami. But we will nevertheless start delivery of the premium sedan in a few days,” he said.

Maruti Suzuki has received 500 bookings for Kizashi. It has already imported around 250 units in January and February this year. The Rs 17.12 lakh Kizashi was launched on February 3 and deliveries were to start this month.

Indian Government officials to get Maruti SX4, Ambassador to be eliminated

Indian Government officials have been using the iconic HM Ambassador for ages now. Anywhere we see a white Ambassador with a red light on top, we assume there has to be a VIP travelling inside. In fact the only new ambassadors you get to see today are with Government Army officials.

All that is set to change forever as Delhi Police has announced to replace all the existing Ambassador’s with Maruti Suzuki SX4. Not only does the SX4 offer more space, it is also more fuel efficient, and faster.

Mr B K Gupta, Commissioner, Delhi Police, said, “We are in the process of buying vehicles like Maruti SX4 that are easy to maintain and save fuel. A proposal was sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs long time ago which was finally accepted.”

According to Mr Gupta, when they were thinking of a car that will replace Ambassador, 4 things were kept in mind;

•    Maintenance
•    Comfort
•    Fuel economy
•    Speed

Mr Gupta has already got his old Ambassador replaced with a new Maruti SX4. His was one of the first cars to be replaced! The SX4 for Police and Government officials has better safety and luxury features.

Maruti SX4

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.. is out with it’s cutting edge new model, Maruti Suzuki SX4, a joint venture made by two of automobile czars, Suzuki and Maruti.

The model closely follows the Swift platform, therefore, it is easily available with exclusive features which makes it all the more desirable among car connoisseurs. A mini SUV (sport utility vehicles) style, SX4 is almost like a car in it’s construction & comfort context.

The model is found in two- and four- wheel drive. With two variants, the model is all set to conquer the Indian auto biz market. These are commonly referred as the "Urban Line" & the "Outdoor Line", where the latter is more like an SUV in appearance compared to the first one. The car is expected to have 1590cc petrol engine making it capable enough to deliver a power of 94bhp and a torque of 13.4kgm.

Maruti SX4 sedan diesel variant introduced

NEW DELHI: The country’s largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India on Tuesday launched a diesel variant of its SX4 sedan at an introductory price of Rs 7.74-8.62 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

"The new age diesel technology as offered by SX4 is high on power and performance, while being low on emissions. SX4 diesel offers an economical and punchier ride," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Managing Director and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi told reporters here.

The company expects the new variant to be as successful as other diesel cars from MSI’s stable, he added.

Swift, DZiRE and Ritz are the three other cars from the company that are available in diesel variants.

Ramakant Panda met an accident at Nagaon

Ramakant Panda, a cardiovascular thoracic surgeon and vice chairman at Mumbai’s Asian Heart Institute was in Assam at the personal invitation of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and was accorded the status of a state guest was injured in an accident that held near down town food court at Samaguri in Nagaon district of Assam at around 1.55 pm. Panda along with his family was on his holiday trip to Kaziranga on a Maruti SX4 car bearing registration no AS01AR -0003.

In the accident Panda and his son Saswat Panda (20) received injuries. The car in which Panda with his son and daughter was traveling collided with a truck carrying boulders, bearing reg. AS01D 2245. Panda’s son had a fracture on his shoulder, but his daughter narrowly escapes unhurt.

Assam Health minister Himanta Biswa Sharma reached Nagaon after getting the news of the accident. According to the doctors attended Panda, informed that Panda had received injuries on his head but was fine. In the accident the driver of the car Ravi Sonar (45) also received injuries. Panda and his son were shifted to Guwahati escorted by the officials of Assam Police for treatment.

Maruti Suzuki sX4 Spied

Autocar India has managed to spy the first images of what seems like the diesel SX4. We knew Maruti had been testing the diesel SX4 off late as many people reported spotting the car but failed to capture it on a camera. Hyundai Showroom in India

Easily amongst one of the few models from the Maruti Suzuki stable that failed to make an impact on the Indian auto industry, unavailability of diesel variant is considered as the main reason behind SX4’s failure to generate sales. Electric Bike in India

Maruti Suzuki has installed a 1.3L Fiat engine that generates 90PS power and 200Nm torque in the new diesel SX4.Expect diesel SX4 to be dearer by Rs 70,000 than the petrol variant. Kerala used cars