India's leading car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India Limited received consent from Tata Motors to source diesel engines from Fiat India. The business agreement will enable Maruti Suzuki to reduce the waiting period for diesel versions of flagship brands like Swift, Swift DZire, SX4 and Ritz. This approval from Fiat India, which has a joint venture with Tata Motors Limited for Indian operations, came after series of discussions for over six months.
As reported, Fiat India will begin production of diesel engines for Maruti Suzuki from January 2, which will be dispatched by second week of January. The move will ease off weight from the shoulders of Suzuki Powertrain India, the sole diesel engine supplier for the automaker. Operations of the supplier were suspended for over three weeks, following labour unrest.
Fiat India, 50:50 joint venture between Italy’s Fiat and Tata Motors, produces 300,000 diesel and petrol engines annually along with production of models like Fiat Punto and Fiat Linea. It has a Rs. 4,500-crore facility at Ranjangaon (Pune) for production of engines and cars. The approval came at the right time, as Maruti needed a backup after a spat with Volkswagen India. In December 2009, in lieu of sharing its frugal technology with the German OEM for manufacturing small cars, Suzuki sold nearly 20 per cent stake to Volkswagen.
Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), a part of oil ministry, has revealed that diesel consumption increased by 6.2 per cent in the first seven months of this fiscal to 36.3 million tonnes. On the other hand, petrol consumption increased by 5.3 per cent during the same period, totalling to 8.7 million tonnes.
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