Maruti Udyog Managing Director Jagdish Khattar on Tuesday said the company had no plans to roll out a diesel version of the newly-launched SX4 sedan.
BANGALORE: Despite a high demand for a diesel version of its global car 'Swift', Maruti Udyog Managing Director Jagdish Khattar on Tuesday said the company had no plans to roll out a diesel version of the newly-launched SX4 sedan.
"We do not have any plans to introduce a diesel version of it," Khattar told reporters here today while announcing the introduction of its new model SX4 in the A-3 segment.
"There is already a high demand for the diesel version of Swift, so we rather concentrate on the model we have rather than spread ourselves too much," he said.
Khattar said the company has never been in the diesel category. Moreover, it was just mastering the process of diesel technology. "All this will take time," he said.
"We are betting big on this sedan. It plays an important role in Maruti's plan," he said of the sedan, which is seen as a replacement for Baleno, which was withdrawn in December.
The experience with Baleno had been mixed, he said, adding with the introduction of SX4, Maruti plans to reinforce its presence in the A-3 segment and enhance its leadership.
The new car had 79 per cent localistion. The new M series of engine fitted in the car had a little over 40 per cent localisation. The total investment for the model was Rs 340 crore, he said.
Maruti had planned an investment of Rs 9,000 crore till 2010, according to Shashank Srivastav, commercial business head, south. There were also plans to ramp up the new facility at Manesar from the existing one lakh capacity to three lakh, he said.
On the impact of increased interest rates on car sales, Khattar said there had been some impact.
"Out of the total retail sale 80 per cent was financed, which has come down to 70 per cent," he said.
On the "incorrect timing" of the introduction of the SX4, he said: "The decision to launch this car in May this year was taken two years ago."
"We are trying to chip in to get over the initial reluctance of customers to come to the showroom. Many were postponing, hoping for things to change," he said.
On the positioning of the car as a masculine product with the tag line "Men are back", he said that the positioning was not aimed at putting off women and asserted that the brand image would not affect sales when it came to women customers.
On the company's future plans, a senior company official said Maruti would start manufacturing a compact car for Nisan in 2008 for exporting to Europe.
Maruti will contract manufacture 50,000 units for Nissan for Europe. It will separately export 100,000 units of this car to Europe under Suzuki's badge and 50,000 units would be for domestic sales under the Maruti-Suzuki badge.
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