The country’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki officially made its foray into the fast growing MUV segment with the launch of the Ertiga on 12th April. With a very aggressive pricing, the car has instantly become a big hit among the customers. Company officials have stated that the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga has already received close to 400 bookings in Maharashtra on the first day of its launch. Besides, this the company has received a large number of enquiries about the Ertiga.
Maruti Suzuki also plans to expand to the South Asian markets too with this MUV vehicle starting with Indonesia. The Maruti Suzuki Ertiga will be shipped towards the end of the next month. In Indonesia, the company currently has a 3% market share and hopes to increase it with the help of the Ertiga. The Ertiga would be exported as CKD units and assembled in the Indonesian manufacturing facility. Back in India, the company is expecting the diesel powered Ertiga to be under high demand since customers are inclined towards diesel given the pricing of the fuel compared to petrol.
Maruti Suzuki also revealed that there are no plans currently to launch a CNG variant of the Ertiga since there is no clear plan from the Government to have CNG stations across India. To cater to the diesel mill demand, Maruti Suzuki plans to invest close to Rs. 2000 crore in its Gurgaon manufacturing facility to add additional lines to manufacture diesel engines. The company would manufacture 1.5 lakh diesel engines for Swift and Desire in the current year to meet the growing demand. The company will also setup a vendor park or its proposed greenfield manufacturing facility at Mehsana in Gujarat. The new manufacturing plant is coming up in Gujarat in view of the infrastructure congestion at Gurgaon and additional volume demand.
