Turbo charged SX4 diesel to be launched in 2011

Maruti Suzuki India said it will introduce a diesel variant of its premium sedan SX4 with a 1.3 litre turbo charged engine early next year. The company also said it will consider assembling its yet to be launched luxury sedan Kizashi at the Gurgaon facility depending upon the demand.

"The production of a 1.3 litre diesel engine with turbo charger is going on and we will start assembling it in SX4 once our plants reopen on January 3 next year after the annual weekly maintenance shutdown," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Managing Executive Officer (Production) M M Singh said.

Turbo charged diesel engines have additional features that make them more efficient than normal ones, delivering greater power outputs.

MSI is sourcing the engine technology from Fiat. It currently produces diesel variants of Swift, DZiRE and Ritz with normal 1.3 litre engines.

Without giving any specific time-frame, he said the car will be launched "very soon". Besides, the company will also be considering a diesel variant of its proposed multi purpose vehicle (MPV) 'rIII', which is scheduled to hit the roads in 2012.

The company, which is looking to expand presence in the big car segment, will launch the much anticipated luxury sedan Kizashi by early next year through the completely built unit import route.

When asked if the car would be assembled in India in future, MSI Managing Director Shinzo Nakanishi said, "This segment is very small and I am not expecting much volume. But if the volume increases, then we can look at the (assembly of) completely knocked down option."

Singh said if the company decides to assemble Kizashi in India, it will be done at the Gurgaon facility.

At present, MSI, which is 54.2 per cent owned by Suzuki, has an annual capacity of 8.5 lakh units at its Gurgaon plant, while Manesar can produce 3.5 lakh units annually, with the overall capacity totaling to 12 lakh units per year.

The company had announced an investment of over Rs 3,625 crore (Rs 36.25 billion) to set up two new plants with 2.5 lakh annual capacities each inside the Manesar facility.

Nakanishi said with de-bottlenecking of operations, the company is aiming to produce 10 lakh units each at its Gurgaon and Manesar facilities in future.

The carmaker said it has ramped up production by about 10 per cent to nearly 1.1 lakh units every month from October this year, taking its total annual output to 13 lakh units in 2011-12.

Talking about its market share, Nakanishi said it will depend on growth of the Indian car market.

"Right now the market is about two million passenger cars (annually). As per estimates, by 2014-15 it is expected to touch five million units. If this is the case, we can maintain our market share but if it grows to touch seven million units, then we cannot maintain our share," he added.

Nakanishi also said MSI is keen to expand presence in the sports utility vehicle (SUV) and MPV segment, where it is almost "zero" at the moment, through its proposed MPV 'rIII'.

"With the launch of rIII, we hope to capture more market in the SUV and MPV segment, which is about 18 per cent of the passenger vehicle market," he added.