Good Bye to Maruti 800 from 13 Indian Cities

[biker]

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. will stop selling its lowest-priced model, the Maruti 800, in 13 of India's biggest cities from April 1, when the federal government implements new, more stringent emission standards, its chairman said Friday.

"We have no plans to upgrade the Maruti 800 to meet Bharat Stage IV emission norms," R.C. Bhargava told reporters Friday on the sidelines of an industry conference.

India will adopt Bharat Stage IV emission standards that are equivalent to the Euro-IV standards in 13 of India's biggest cities by April 1. Auto makers are required to invest in upgrading their vehicles to comply with the rules.

"We were contemplating if we can upgrade the Maruti 800 to comply with new emission norms or not and have taken a decision to stop selling the car in cities where new norms will be implemented from April 1," Mr. Bhargava said. "We'll continue to sell the model in rest of the country."

Maruti is India's largest car maker by sales with a local market share in excess of 50%. The company sells seven small car models in India such as the Maruti 800, the Alto and the Swift.

Mr. Bhargava said the company has no plans to introduce a new model at Maruti 800's price point. The company sells Maruti 800 model in four variants priced between 185,715 rupees ($4011) and 219,587 rupees at showrooms in New Delhi.

Sales of Maruti 800 declined 37% to 27,088 units in the April-January period of the current fiscal year that ends March 31. That compares with a 32% jump in the company's total sales (including exports) in the same period to 826,592 vehicles.

Separately, Maruti's Managing Executive Officer Administration, S.Y. Siddiqui, said the company will hire 950 employees in the next financial year which starts April 1.

"A part of this is the advanced hiring for the new capacity that will be operational by April 2012," Mr. Siddiqui said. "We'll continue to hire more people to meet the manpower needs for our research and development vertical as well as the new assembly line."

Maruti is investing 17 billion rupees until April 2012 to increase its annual vehicle production by 25%. The expansion will raise Maruti's annual output to 1.25 million cars from one million now, the company had said in January.

Source

 

[RSM]

Oh, thats an end of an era for Indian Automotive.

 

[Zinam]

Well, One way its the good news, that India's biggest manufacturer is abiding to the new emissions. But its really a big worry for many people!

We expected some car to come in place of 800.

Will cervo replace 800 ?

 

[Shynish M]

I think so. Its time say good bye to 800 ! I will keep mine as a vintage car

 

[cooldhaya]

Very much known news! I believe the Swift has eaten up the sales of the 800 as MSIL have recorded a profit in spite of the dwindling sales of 800! No point in upgrading the 800 anymore! A good move from MSIL! But i will be missing the car though!

 

[Aditya]

I doubt if it is going to turn to gold very soon!! There are too many of them around!!

 

[350Z]

The good ol’ Maruti 800 is a legend in Indian Auto History and will be remembered for ever, Maruti was selling it from a couple of decades but the release of Alto has eaten most of it’s sales and as a result we see it topping the sales charts now a days, where Maruti 800 ruled earlier and Yes, 800 is not any soon going to be a rare sight as Aditya told that we have already lakhs of ‘em running on Indian roads, Also it is only discontinued in Major Cities where new emissions will be applicable but this little wonder will still be sold in rest of the cities, any ways I’ll too be keeping mine as long as I can!

Drive Safe,
350Z

 

[Aditya]

It will be forever remembered as the car that brought the concept of reliability onto the Indian roads!!