Italy based leading car maker Fiat has said that it will commence supplying diesel engines to Indian auto giant Maruti Suzuki from the month of Feburary 2012. Both of these firms are expected to enter into an engine supplying partnership by the end of this year.
It is to be mentioned here that Maruti Suzuki currently has a booking backlog of about 1,50,000 units of its popular cars Maruti Swift hatchback and Swift Dzire sedan. Most of these bookings are for the diesel variants of its cars, for which company is to source diesel engines from Fiat. The new tie-up of sourcing 1,00,000 engines per annum will help the company in bringing down the mounting backlog and reducing the waiting period of its cars.
Fiat India had finalized an agreement with Maruti Suzuki for supplying 1,00,000 engines per annum in the last quarter of year 2011, however it needed a go ahead from its Indian joint venture partner Tata Motors to supply engines from its Ranjangaon plant.
In a statement given to ET, S Nakanishi, managing director of Maruti Suzuki, said, "We are at the final stages of signing the deal." He added that "We are currently negotiating the prices and hopefully by the end of the month, we will be through with the agreement."
