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Our Bureau

Hyderabad, May 18 Engineers at the country’s largest carmaker Maruti’s research and development (R&D) centre expect to roll out a fully India conceptualised, designed and developed car within three years, according to Mr I.V. Rao, Managing Executive Officer, Engineering, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.

“This project will take us to the next level of engineering and design work from what we have been handling in the last few years in models such as Swift, Dzire, Zen, SX4 and A-Star. Earlier, it has been joint development work between Indian engineers and Suzuki researchers in Japan,” Mr Rao said.

Speaking to Business Line after the launch of its latest hatch, Ritz, in Andhra Pradesh on Monday, Mr Rao, who heads the R&D team in India, said this development work would entail significant expansion and investment in engineers.

Without giving away much as to the nature and type of the India developed car, Mr Rao said “most of the changes we bring about in existing models are based on outcome feedback. Likewise, the new car is likely to meet the latent demand in India.”

“We now have 720 engineers in India and expect to take this number up to 1,000 by next year. As a part of this expansion, we are in the process of recruiting automotive engineers and experts from not just within the country but from other parts of the world,” he said.

“In the R&D expansion, which is part of the Rs 9,000-crore expansion project announced by the company, we will develop a test track in Haryana. The company is in talks with the Government to acquire 500 acres more near Manesar plant,” Mr Rao said.

Referring to ongoing research engagements, he said the focus is on tweaking engines and developing technologies to ensure some of the models comply with BS IV norms by 2010. These include Maruti 800 and Omni.

“Though we have a smaller 660 cc engine, we believe that it will not be suitable for India requirements as Indians prefer a soft pedal rather than the rev-up approach in other markets. Therefore, we are tweaking the existing engines,” he explained.

Referring to the Ritz launch, Mr Rao said that the A-2 segment is poised to witness several more launches and each time a new model is launched, it has helped expand the market. He felt the Ritz positioning would ensure there is no cannibalisation of models.

The Manesar plant capacity is to be further expanded to 3,00,000 from 2,00,000 by October and this will help ease the backlog and wait list of buyers in some models such as Swift and Dzire, he said.

More Stories on : Outlook | Cars | Maruti Udyog Ltd

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