A totally India-designed and made car, right from scratch, will roll out of Maruti Suzuki India's plants in the next 3-4 years.
This will be the first time that a car is being conceived, designed, engineered and rolled out exclusively by Indian engineers, according to I.V. Rao, managing executive officer, Maruti Suzuki.
To ramp up the company's design and engineering team, the company is scouting Detroit to lure NRI engineers back home.
The car will be based on one of the existing platforms and is intended to be a technology demonstrator in pursuit of the company's objective of making India a small car hub for Suzuki worldwide, he told DNA Money.
The move assumes significance, considering that, of the 3 million cars that Suzuki Motor Company (SMC) has targeted world-wide, almost 30% has to come from Maruti Suzuki India.
The company has set a sales target of 1 million for the domestic market and 1 lakh for the export market by 2010 from India. Rao, however, refused to divulge further details, except adding that the company was ramping up its strength of design and engineering personnel.
It is known that 75 engineers have been trained for long-term projects, while in 2004, Maruti Suzuki kicked off its design and engineering team to tweak designs for Indian specifications and to implement alternative fuel technologies.
After the face-lift to Wagon-R, 22 engineers were deputed to Japan to participate in designing Swift's power plant, which is different from the one used in Japan and Europe.
After Swift, the team did the same to the new Zen Estilo. Likewise, the basic development of the Swift DZire took place in Japan while its sketching was done by Indian engineers.
Similarly, Maruti's fifth compact car, the A Star concept, which is slated for an October launch, has been designed in Japan but the prototype tweaking will happen in India.
This is likely to be followed by yet another compact, the Splash, later next year. Both the A Star and Splash will be global models for sale in Europe and other countries.
Given its ambitious road map, Maruti Suzuki will ramp up its design and engineering team from the current 480 to 1,000 people by 2010. This year, it will recruit 100 engineers and an additional 150 next year, Rao said.
While Maruti has so far inducted engineers at the trainee level and moved them up gradually, given the emphasis on adding more senior people quickly, the company has started scouting Detroit for NRI designers to lure them back to India.
"We are in touch with the American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin to rope in people who are keen on coming back to India," Rao said. The reasons for this are not difficult to understand.
Quality design and engineering talent in the automotive sector is difficult to come by. A measure of the difficulty can be had from the fact that of every 100 applications received only 10 are short-listed. Of these, only one meets the requirements, Rao added.
India is set to emerge as the R&D hub for SMC in Asia outside Japan with an independent R&D unit coming up near Manesar on par with the Japanese facility.
The emphasis is on new-generation engines on the lines of the M Series used in the SX4 in the next 3-5 years, Rao added. Apart from new car designs, SMC is also keen on hybrid engine designs from India that will serve India, along with global markets.
This will be the first time that a car is being conceived, designed, engineered and rolled out exclusively by Indian engineers, according to I.V. Rao, managing executive officer, Maruti Suzuki.
To ramp up the company's design and engineering team, the company is scouting Detroit to lure NRI engineers back home.
The car will be based on one of the existing platforms and is intended to be a technology demonstrator in pursuit of the company's objective of making India a small car hub for Suzuki worldwide, he told DNA Money.
The move assumes significance, considering that, of the 3 million cars that Suzuki Motor Company (SMC) has targeted world-wide, almost 30% has to come from Maruti Suzuki India.
The company has set a sales target of 1 million for the domestic market and 1 lakh for the export market by 2010 from India. Rao, however, refused to divulge further details, except adding that the company was ramping up its strength of design and engineering personnel.
It is known that 75 engineers have been trained for long-term projects, while in 2004, Maruti Suzuki kicked off its design and engineering team to tweak designs for Indian specifications and to implement alternative fuel technologies.
After the face-lift to Wagon-R, 22 engineers were deputed to Japan to participate in designing Swift's power plant, which is different from the one used in Japan and Europe.
After Swift, the team did the same to the new Zen Estilo. Likewise, the basic development of the Swift DZire took place in Japan while its sketching was done by Indian engineers.
Similarly, Maruti's fifth compact car, the A Star concept, which is slated for an October launch, has been designed in Japan but the prototype tweaking will happen in India.
This is likely to be followed by yet another compact, the Splash, later next year. Both the A Star and Splash will be global models for sale in Europe and other countries.
Given its ambitious road map, Maruti Suzuki will ramp up its design and engineering team from the current 480 to 1,000 people by 2010. This year, it will recruit 100 engineers and an additional 150 next year, Rao said.
While Maruti has so far inducted engineers at the trainee level and moved them up gradually, given the emphasis on adding more senior people quickly, the company has started scouting Detroit for NRI designers to lure them back to India.
"We are in touch with the American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin to rope in people who are keen on coming back to India," Rao said. The reasons for this are not difficult to understand.
Quality design and engineering talent in the automotive sector is difficult to come by. A measure of the difficulty can be had from the fact that of every 100 applications received only 10 are short-listed. Of these, only one meets the requirements, Rao added.
India is set to emerge as the R&D hub for SMC in Asia outside Japan with an independent R&D unit coming up near Manesar on par with the Japanese facility.
The emphasis is on new-generation engines on the lines of the M Series used in the SX4 in the next 3-5 years, Rao added. Apart from new car designs, SMC is also keen on hybrid engine designs from India that will serve India, along with global markets.
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