NEW DELHI: The country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki BSE 0.71 %, which has in recent times made a strong pitch in the midsize market with the Vitara Brezza, the Baleno and the Ciaz, is looking to launch a small car in the next three years to strengthen presence in the entry-car space. 

“We are working on a pipeline of products across segments, and are looking at a small car at the entry-level which will come in the next 2-3 years,” confirmed Kenichi Ayukawa, managing director, Maruti Suzuki India BSE 0.71 % Limited (MSIL). 

Earlier in October this year, ET had reported that Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC), enthused by the success of Brezza, gave Indian subsidiary the responsibility to develop a newgeneration Alto to strengthen its hold in the entry-car space. 

Maruti Suzuki BSE 0.71 % Alto had been facing tough competition from Renault Kwid; in the first eight months of the ongoing financial year, while sales of Alto declined by 7.4% to 1,62,894 units, that of Renault Kwid shot up to 73,676 units from 11044 units sold in the year-ago period. 

Alto's share in the entry-car segment has dropped to 42% between April and November this fiscal compared with 50.9% in the same period last fiscal. Kwid has, meanwhile, managed to garner almost 20% market share in that segment. 

People in the know of Maruti’s plans said the company has started work on the project, internally called Y1K. The new car is likely to be launched by the festive season of 2019. Alto will be developed on a fresh platform to meet the new regulations. Maruti Suzuki will invest an added Rs 2,000 crore at its state-of-the-art research and development centre in Rohtak, Haryana, over the next three years to boost its R&D capability. This would take the company's total investment at Rohtak to Rs 3,800 crore

Separately, Maruti Suzuki chairman RC Bhargava on Friday said the trend is reversing in the passenger vehicle market and the company's bookings have increased by 7% in December. Maruti Suzuki's bookings had registered a drop of 20% in November as consumers put off fresh purchases after the government demonetised high-value currency notes from November 9. 

"Interestingly, even rural markets have grown over last year," said Bhargava. Maruti Suzuki's sales in rural markets have increased by 18% in December against a decline of 11% in November. The proportion of vehicles financed in rural markets stands at around 50-60% compared to 80% in urban areas. 

"What I understand is that cash availability has improved. Besides, good monsoons helped grow rural sales in the first few months of the fiscal," said Bhargava. Rural sales currently account for 30% of Maruti Suzuki's volumes and have grown by around 14% till date this fiscal. He, however, declined to make any forecast for sales growth next year.

Source : Maruti Suzuki plans new small car within 3 years, may launch new-generation Alto 

MUMBAI: Maruti Suzuki BSE 0.67 % and Hyundai Motor India, the country's top two car makers, are hopeful of meeting their annual production targets despite a slump in demand after the government's demonetisation move. 

Industry executives ET spoke with said the two companies are likely to top their internal targets on the back of significant order backlog for some models. Production at Maruti Suzuki may touch 1.58 million to 1.6 million units by the end of the current fiscal against the internal target of 1.565 million, said several people in the know of the plan. 

RC Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki, confirmed that the company will meet its annual target by producing over 1.5 million units despite the demonetisation move, but declined to give an exact figure. 

"We are doing better than others. After an initial blip in bookings in November there has been pick up in momentum of bookings. Clarity on annual numbers will emerge only by January. Continuous innovation and the ability to understand the customers' needs have helped us sustain our volume growth and market share over the years," Bhargava said. 

"Brand perception, ease of maintenance, spare parts' cost, distribution and sales network, all play a big part going ahead in the future." 

The company is likely to end FY17 with a market share of over 47%, its highest in the last decade and a half. On the back of strong retail offtake in the festive month of October, Maruti Suzuki posted year-on-year sales growth of 14% in November, the same month demonetisation was announced. 

NEW DELHI: Bajaj Auto BSE 0.25 % today said it will hike prices of its bikes by up to Rs 1,500 from January in order to partially offset the impact of rising input costs and upgrading of its entire portfolio to BS-IV emission levels. 

"All two-wheeler manufacturers in the country are trying to be BS-IV compliant by April next year. We want to be the first ones to transition to the next emission levels," Bajaj Auto Ltd BSE 0.25 % President (Motorcycle) Eric Vas told PTI. 

Some of the models have already been made BS-IV compliant and the company expects to covert the rest of the product lines conforming to next level of emission norms by middle of next month, he added. 

"As a consequence of shifting to BS-IV norms we will be hiking the prices of our bikes between Rs 700 and Rs 1,500, depending upon specific models, from next month," Vas said. 

Elaborating further on the reasons for taking a price hike, he said the input costs have also gone up due to the firming up of oil and commodity prices. 

"The price hike is due to the transition to BS4 and also to accommodate increase in raw material costs as well. The hike shall not affect recently launched products like the Dominar 400," Vas said. 

Currently, India follows BS-III emission norms for two-wheelers. From April 2016, all new two-wheeler models started complying with BS-IV emission norms, and the existing models would comply with BS-IV emission norms from April 2017, on a pan-India basis. 

Auto companies such as Hyundai Motor India, Nissan, Renault, Toyota, Tata Motors BSE -0.54 %, Mercedes Benz and Isuzu have said they would hike prices of their products from January to offset higher input costs and adverse impact of foreign exchange fluctuations.  

NEW DELHI: Tata Motors owned Jaguar Land Rover today announced the launch of new Range Rover Evoque, 2017 range priced between Rs 49.10 lakh and Rs 67.9 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

"The Range Rover Evoque has gained immense popularity and success since its launch in the Indian market and today we are excited to introduce the 2017 Model Year New Range Rover Evoque to our customers," JLR India President Rohit Suri said in a statement.

With the introduction of the Ingenium 2 litre diesel engine, the 2017 Model Year New Range Rover Evoque becomes the first Land Rover in India to get the much awaited power-train, it added.
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The model will be available in six variants.

In India, the Land Rover portfolio comprises Discovery Sport at a starting price of Rs 47.59 lakh, Range Rover Sport tagged at Rs 1.18 crore to the flagship Range Rover costing Rs 2.13 crore besides the Range Rover Evoque.

 Source :  Jaguar Land Rover launches new Range Rover Evoque priced up to Rupees 67.9 lakh

NEW DELHI: Tata Motors BSE -0.56 % owned Jaguar Land Rover today announced the launch of new Range Rover Evoque, 2017 range priced between Rs 49.10 lakh and Rs 67.9 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). 

"The Range Rover Evoque has gained immense popularity and success since its launch in the Indian market and today we are excited to introduce the 2017 Model Year New Range Rover Evoque to our customers," JLR India President Rohit Suri said in a statement. 

With the introduction of the Ingenium 2 litre diesel engine, the 2017 Model Year New Range Rover Evoque becomes the first Land Rover in India to get the much awaited power-train, it added. 

In India, the Land Rover portfolio comprises Discovery Sport at a starting price of Rs 47.59 lakh, Range Rover Sport tagged at Rs 1.18 crore to the flagship Range Rover costing Rs 2.13 crore besides the Range Rover Evoque. 

Source :  Jaguar Land Rover launches new Range Rover Evoque priced up to Rupees 67.9 lakh