Maruti Suzuki to focus more on diesel run cars

Amidst the upwards shooting demand for the diesel run cars in the Indian market, the country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki has said that it will be focusing on diesel cars to catch-up with the high demand momentum.

Speaking on the occasion of merger of Suzuki Powertrains in the Maruti Suzuki India, company’s managing director and chief executive officer, Mr. Shinzo Nakanishi, said, "We will take diesel engine capacity to six lakh from the current three lakh by mid-2013. The merger will provide cost-reduction and allow production planning under a single management."

In the recent years, the gap between the prices of petrol and diesel has widened significantly. The diesel car penetration of the Maruti Suzuki surged to 55 percent in the month of May. The company is witnessing a considerably surge in the demand for the diesel variants of their cars including Swift, Ritz, Dzire and SX4.

Meanwhile, the oil ministry is proposing a special tax over the diesel run cars, which is expected to make them expensive by up to Rs 2.55 lakh. The government of India is planning to impose a special duty of 1.7 lakh on mini diesel cars and Rs 2.55 lakh on medium and large cars.