Maruti chalks out INR 1,200 crore KB engine upgradation plan
Maruti Suzuki which makes every second car sold in India is investing INR 1,200 crore to replace engines of existing models with a Maruti new light weight fuel efficient one that will conform to a new national emission standard to come in place next year.
Mr Shinzo Nakanishi MD & CEO of Maruti Suzuki India said that "While all our new launches will be on the new engines, in the long term, we plan to gradually replace our existing series of engines with the fuel efficient KB series engines."
Maruti's popular models Alto, WagonR, Zen Estilo, Versa and Swift will be strapped with new engines by April 2010 when new Bharat Stage IV emissions comes into place. These five cars account for a bulk of Maruti's 0.722 million cars sold in India.
The new fuel - efficient engine will also help Maruti to compete with new cars like Honda's Jazz, Volkswagen's Polo and Fiat's Grande Punto, which will be launched in the domestic market soon.
He added that all aluminium 1.0 litre engine may replace the current line of F - series engines fitted in the Alto, while the bigger 1.2 litre engine is likely to power the WagonR and Zen Estilo. This new engine may also power the Swift and the Versa, currently running on the G13 series, in the near future. The installation of new engines could also see prices of these select models going up.
(Source : The Economic Times)
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