MARUTI TO BUY 1 LAKH DIESEL ENGINES FROM FIAT.

Maruti has signed the deal in which Fiat India would supply 1,00,000 engines to Maruti for use in Maruti car models over the next year ownwards or so. Maruti Suzuki group firm Suzuki Powertrain India already supplies 3,00,000 Fiat Multijet diesel engines each year and despite these many engines already being supplied each year, Maruti Suzuki continues to huge waiting periods for its diesel engined powered cars, due to the massive demand.

And the ongoing series of hikes in petrol prices has led to a steep rise in the demand of diesel variants of cars. As a result, the largest car maker in the country, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, is facing a surplus capacity of petrol cars on one hand, while on the other it has a long waiting list for its diesel cars. To correct the situation, Maruti Suzuki has entered into an agreement with Fiat to procure 1 lakh diesel engines per year.

With this move, the company hopes to reduce the long waiting period on some of its best-selling models like the New Swift hatchback, which has a backlog of about one lakh units. The current range of diesel cars hosted by the company includes the Ritz, Swift -Dzire, SX4 and Swift. All the popular models have a waiting period ranging between four and eight months.

The company's production facility at Manesar was affected due to a lingering labor strike in October 2011, which led to a loss of 28,539 units, while incurring a 53.25 per cent loss in sales. Earlier in the month, Maruti Suzuki had hiked the prices of its diesel cars in the range of Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000 because of the recent depreciation of the Indian rupee and also to make up for the increase in the cost of production.

SOURCE - indiancarsbike , oncars