Maruti Escudo, the new Grand Vitara,

The Escudo will be the replacement for the venerable old Suzuki Grand Vitara in India. Maruti plans to launch the latest version of its SUV Grand Vitara - the Suzuki Escudo - in India very soon. Maruti officials talked about the launch of the Escudo in India at the unveiling of the company's A3 class sedan, the Maruti SX4 in India. Globally, the Escudo is marketed as an urban cross-country vehicle that offers the riding comfort as a passenger car. That puts it in much the same class as a Honda CR-V, Hyundai Tucson and Chevrolet Forester - out of which only the CR-V is selling in any considerable numbers. The Escudo in India will also be compared to the Ford Endeavour which recently had a fresh go at the market. The expected engine options are a 2000cc petrol as well as a 2.7 litre diesel.We expect the latest moel of the Escudo, with its clean-cut lines, to make the debut in India. As an SUV goes, it is pretty much what customers would expect - reasonably large and sophisticated, and moderate off-road capabilities.

Pricing details of the Maruti Escudo too are unavailable officially, though sources indicate that the SUV would be priced at Rs 12-15 lakhs ex-showroom in India. They also tell us that the expected launch will be in July 2007. Maruti had showcased the Escudo in the last Auto Expo in New Delhi, where it evoked considerable interest. The price, if true, will position it pretty much in the same price range as the Endeavour while keeping comfortably below the CR-V.What we know so far is that the Maruti Escudo will be imported - mostly like as a compeltely built unit. Maruti can be expected to crank up the PR machinery before the launch - it's last SUV, the Grand Vitara, had a cold reception in India, and they company can be expected to pull out all stops to make sure the Escudo would not meet the same fate. We have a few photos of the Japanese Escudo for you. Take a look at the photo gallery below, and do use the comments section to let us, as well as Maruti, know what you think about its upcoming SUV and what you want from it. Bookmark this page and come back later for more pictures in a while!

The new Swift from Maruti.

Maruti Suzuki has launched a new model called Swift.It has this retro looks and is catching on like anything.

Maruti Cars

Maruti Udyog Limited is India's largest automobile company. Its main factory is situated in Gurgaon district, Haryana. The company, a joint venture with of Government of India with Suzuki of Japan, has been a success story like no other in the annals of the Indian automobile industry.
The first cars rolled out for sale on 14th December 1983, (the Company went into production in a record 13 months), marking the beginning of a revolution in the Indian automobile industry.The Indian car market had stagnated at a volume of 30,000 or 40,000 cars a year for the decade ending 1983.
In 1993, this figure reached a number of 1,96,820. Maruti's figures are a different story altogether. Maruti reached a total production of one million motorcars in March 1994, becoming the first Indian company to cross this milestone and crossed the two million mark in 1997.For the year ended 1997-98, Maruti posted a turnover of US$ 2.1 billion and a Profit Before Tax of US$ 244 million. During the year, Maruti produced over 350,000 vehicles, out of which 26,000 were exported. Maruti has made profits in every single year since inception, and has been paying dividends for ten years.Through the years Maruti has provided world-class Japanese technology, suitably adapted to Indian conditions and Indian car users.
Maruti's market share figures show the response of customers: In 1997-98, its market share of vehicles was over 70%. In addition to leading in the economy car segment, Maruti is also the leader in the luxury car segment with a market share of 38%. Maruti also sells the Grand Vitara, sports utility vehicle (SUV) in India.The success of the joint venture led Suzuki to increase its equity from 26% to 40% in 1987, and further to 50% in 1992. As a result, Maruti changed from being a government company to a non-government company. With the introduction of economic liberalization from July 1991, the government realized the high growth potential of the passenger car market. It took note of the contribution of this segment in promoting employment, technological up gradation of industry and contribution to government revenues. Policy changes took place accordingly.
Maruti's excellent performance in the post-liberalization milieu is in keeping with the earlier trend set by it.As a result, the transfer of technology from Suzuki has been a smooth process. By February 1990, a local content of above 90% was reached for the Maruti 800.