Maruti Denies Suppressing A-Star Problems in India

March 02, 2010, 10:10 IST by Payal Pathak

Maruti Suzuki has recalled thousands of A-Star models from Europe due to fuel tank problem. The fuel tank may leak if filled up to the brim. The total cost of the same is about Rs. 30 crores of which 40 percent will be borne by the auto component manufacturer. The recall includes Maruti A-Star models manufactured during November 2008 and August 2009. However, the recall development was not declared openly by MSIL in India. As an explanation, the company states that India does not have any recall policy for faulty vehicles.

“There was no attempt to hush up the matter. There was a delay in going public as India does not have a recall policy in contrast to countries in Europe which have a framework in place for reporting such matters ,” Maruti Suzuki chairman R C Bhargava said. The company officials had however informed the European regulatory authorities in November last year about the possible problems.

Regarding informing to Sebi, Bhargava said that it is supposed to inform Sebi only if there is a “significant amount” involved. "In this case, the upper limit of costs for Maruti is around Rs 12 crore which is not large when we read it in relation to the company’s annual profit before tax amount of Rs 3,000 crores. The amount is less than 0.4% of our PBT and would not make any difference to our price-to-earnings ratio,” he clarified. He also stated that the faulty leak in fuel tank has been reported only in few models but there is no complaint in any other Maruti models in India.


Comments on this article

  • Do you know? Maruti rolls out one A-star every four minutes and make India proud

    June 07, 2010 by  Nitin
  • Was a complaint from all the car owners for whom the recall is done?

    March 05, 2010 by  Kumar
  • maruti is giving importance to customer satisfaction.For that only they are doing this recall.so far they have not received any complains from any customer. It just proves their customer centric focus.

    March 04, 2010 by  Vijayasekar
  • I hope the editor of cartradeindia.com passes the feed back to Maruti and Suzuki. I don't know if anyone has any methodology to ensure this else this forum is just useless. I know Mr.Bhargava life cycle in the industry is over. But the damage he is doing to the organization with such remarks are irrepairable.

    March 03, 2010 by  Nanda
  • India could be the greatest market for Maruti. at the same time, remember only in India, we can buy anything if money is available.

    March 03, 2010 by  TJM
  • with INDIA being your biggest market n INDIANS being the biggest bread n butter provider to maruti.how can these men neglect indian.what conscience you have??????????

    March 03, 2010 by  Pratik Priyadarshi
  • Its suprising to see that this kind of treatment from a company that has its root in india, i always had a high regards for maruti. MSL cannot treat indians like this. The govt should ensure that we have a recall policy.

    March 03, 2010 by  Hemanth
  • The comment of Maruti Suzuki chairman R C Bhargavav is simply an escape from his responsibility to the owners of A-Star who have purchased maruti car with a Manucaturing defect. It is the prime responsibility of the Maruti to send Individual information to all A-Star owners of the defect vehicle manufactured during Nov.08-Aug-08.

    March 02, 2010 by  Girish Kumar
  • it is shocking to read a statement from a professional like Mr.Bhargava chairman of Maruti Suzuki. Does he means Indians are not human. Even if there is no recall policy in India it is the responsibility of Maruti Suzuki to replace the component or even the whole vehicle if there is a manufacturing defect. I feel all users must take Maruti Suzuki and mr.Bhargava must be held for criminal non-bailable offense. The message is use on GM or Ford vehicles and throw out the japanese vehicles. OEM's please we Indian are also humans, so give equal treatment to us. If there is a dam defect better replace it. Do not force us to steps which will directly affect your sales. I moved away from Maruti way back in 2000 itself as I had to fight to get the petrol tank of my Zen replaced which had a manufacturing defect and it was certified by maruti Engineer in writing in one of their free camps. Only way out is move away from maruti.

    March 02, 2010 by  Nanda

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