News Release
New Suzuki Alto Demand Sets Maruti Plant Humming
19 February 2010
The new Suzuki Alto, which recently launched in New Zealand, is driving the Indian arm of Suzuki to record heights.
Maruti Suzuki, the Indian division of Suzuki, is expanding its plant capacity to meet high international demand for the latest Alto hatchback.
New investment at the company’s Manesar factory which makes the Alto will increase annual production from 300,000 units to 550,000 by April 2012.
Total Maruti production last year was a record 966,399 Suzuki units and the company predicts sales will top one million for the fiscal year ending March 2010.
The Maruti Suzuki success story has continued into 2010, with January sales up 33 per cent on the same month last year, reaching an all-time record.
New Alto was a major factor in a massive 205 per cent increase in exports for Maruti Suzuki in January, while domestic sales were up 21 per cent.
In the last quarter ending December, exports lifted 167 per cent, with the Alto proving particularly popular in European markets.
During the same period Maruti reported a three-fold increase in its net profit and said it expects its exports to double.
Suzuki is practically synonymous with the automobile in India. Of the 11 million cars on Indian roads, more than 7.5 million are Suzuki’s and four million of these are Altos.
Suzuki played an ace card by entering the Indian market almost 30 years ago when other car makers ignored the country. A joint venture was formed with Maruti Udyog, an Indian state owned company, in 1982.
When the second generation Alto-based Maruti 800 mini-car launched the following year, the total annual Indian car market was around 100,000 units, or less than twice the volume of the New Zealand new car market.
Now the Indian car market is fourteen times larger than the New Zealand market, and continues to grow at a much faster rate.
Despite the arrival of other car manufacturers, Maruti is still India’s largest car maker with more than half the market.
Alto, which is also known as the A-Star in some markets, is the first car in India to sell more than 200,000 units a year.
Today Maruti has more than 4,000 employees, 337 dealers and 8,600 sales people serving a total market that is expected to reach two million cars a year. Maruti is considered to be India’s “people car”.
With the Alto as its biggest seller, Maruti produces 13 models in 150 variants and is exporting to more than 100 countries.
Maruti began building an earlier general Swift in 1990, and its net sales doubled between 2002 and 2007.
“When the original Alto arrived in Japan in the late 1970s there was a slump in mini-vehicle demand,” said Tom Peck, General Manager of Marketing for Suzuki New Zealand. “But the original monthly sales target of 5,000 was soon broken and the model soon became Suzuki’s top-selling model.”
“The new Alto is selling well in India and there is no doubt Maruti has weathered the recession much better than others,” he said. “We may see other new Maruti Suzuki models available in New Zealand in future.”
Build quality, specification, distinctive styling and good driving manners have won accolades for the fuel efficient Alto which is Suzuki’s fourth strategic world model.
Maruti has two plants with the Gurgaon factory currently producing around 700,000 vehicles a year and the Manesar plant, 300,000. Total annual production will increase to 1.25 million when the Manesar developments come on stream.
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