New Delhi: Twenty six years after revolutionising personal transportation in India, Maruti Suzuki will Thursday bid adieu to its once bread-and-butter model 'M800' from 13 cities as new emission norm comes into effect.
With the company deciding to let business rule over sentiments, M800, which was first was rolled out from Maruti's Gurgaon plant in December 14, 1983 in the presence of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, will no longer sell in major cities, including the National Capital and Mumbai.
"Lots of nostalgic value is attached with the car (M800)..., but we can't allow sentiments to dictate business. We have not upgraded it to Bharat Stage IV (BS-IV) norms as we do not consider it a good business proposition," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) chairman R C Bhargava said.
From tomorrow onwards, 13 cities, including the NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, will switch over to BS-IV emission norms, while rest of the country will adopt BS-III norms from October.
"This car has really done an amazing job in building the company and driving its success. In fact, the whole Maruti brand is based on M800. We greatly value this car," he said.
In 26 years, M800 has so far clocked a total of about 28 lakh units, of which over 25 lakh units were in the domestic market and rest exported.
In its first year of commercial operations (December- March 1983), Maruti had produced 840 cars. Of late, M800 had lost ground to more modern peers and on an average was clocking about 2,500-3,000 units a month.
While launching M800, Late Gandhi had said: "And it is my desire, that this motorcar will serve the ordinary people of India and they will have no complaints about this car. I hope it will contribute in every aspect of the nation building and will serve the Indian people".
The company has played its role in India's journey towards modernisation riding on the success of this 796cc car.
Along with M800, a few other vehicles such as 'Ford Ikon' and 'Fiat Palio', will also be driving into sunset in the 13 cities.
Fiat India President and CEO Rajeev Kapoor said the company will phase out its hatchback Palio from the cities as it has not made the car BS-IV compliant.
A Ford India spokeswoman said the company will stop selling one of its successful sedans - Ikon.
Meanwhile, General Motors Vice-President P Balendran said the company will temporarily withdraw its utility vehicle Tavera as currently it is not BS-IV compliant and will be upgraded later.
SkodaAuto India Senior General Manager (Sales and Network Development) Ashutosh Dixit said the company is working on to upgrade its premium sedan Octavia to meet the BS-IV norms.
Maruti crosses sales of 10 lakh units this fiscal
Maruti Suzuki India today said it
has crossed 10 lakh units mark in sales this fiscal, the first
time ever it has crossed the figure in a single year in its
over 26 years of existence.
The feat comes close on the heels of the company
producing the same number of cars in a single year last week.
"Yesterday we touched one million units in sales during
this financial year. It is a great achievement, not only for
Maruti, but for the entire Indian auto industry," Maruti
Suzuki India Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales) Mayank
Pareek told.
This is a global achievement that the company realised
with the help of over 750 sales and service centres across the
country, he added.
The company had last week joined the league of carmakers
producing one million or more units a year.
Toyota, General Motors, Volkswagen, Ford, Honda, Renault,
Hyundai, Suzuki and Nissan are among those who produce a
million units or more every year.
The first 'Maruti 800' was rolled out from the company's
Gurgaon plant in December 14, 1983.
In its first year of commercial operations (December-
March 1983), Maruti had produced 840 cars and in the following
full fiscal year, production had touched a little over 22,000.
The company since inception has sold a total of over 85
lakh cars of about 15 models with over 100 variants. Last
year, Maruti's sales overtook Suzuki's performance in Japan.
It is credited with revolutionising personal transport in
India.
Over the past 26 years, MSI has contributed about Rs
55,000 crore to the national exchequer. The company has
committed itself to over Rs 12,000 crore of investment since
2007 that includes setting up a facility at Manesar,
increasing capacity of the Gurgaon plant, a new R&D centre in
Rohtak and expanding its capacity further by 2.5 lakh units in
Manesar.
In this period, the company has also seen internal
changes. From being a joint venture -- Maruti Udyog Ltd --
between the government and Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, with the
latter holding a minority stake of 26 per cent, it is now
controlled by the Japanese firm. With it, its name has also
been changed to Maruti Suzuki India.
Currently, it enjoys a formidable over 54 per cent share
of the domestic passenger car market with presence in over 450
towns and cities.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, April 01, 2010, 00:31