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Rediff.com  » Business » History made! Maruti rolls out its 10 millionth car
This article was first published 13 years ago

History made! Maruti rolls out its 10 millionth car

Last updated on: March 15, 2011 13:42 IST

Image: Maruti's 10 millionth car!
Photographs: Courtesy, Maruti Suzuki India.

India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki created history on Tuesday when it rolled out its ten millionth (1 crore) car.

The historic 10 millionth car is a Metallic Breeze Blue WagonR VXi, with chassis No 243899 and was rolled out from the company's Gurgaon plant.

With this landmark achievement, Maruti Suzuki becomes the only Indian car company to enter the select club of automobile manufacturers across the globe who have crossed this milestone.

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History made! Maruti rolls out its 10 millionth car

Image: Managing director and CEO of Maruti Suzuki India, Shinzo Nakanishi, stands next to Kizashi.
Photographs: B Mathur/Reuters

On the occasion, Shinzo Nakanishi, managing director and CEO, Maruti Suzuki India Limited said, "As we reach this historic landmark, we thank our founding partners who laid a solid foundation of values and practices.

We thank our customers who have brought us this far. The commitment of employees and continued strong support of business associates has played a critical role all through the journey.

Their enthusiasm and commitment is especially reflected in manufacturing around 5 million units just in the last 6 years. Today is a day of pride for the full Maruti Suzuki family."

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History made! Maruti rolls out its 10 millionth car

Image: Maruti Ritz.
Photographs: Vijay Mathur/Reuters

The company's journey towards the 1-crore mark, picked momentum in recent times through several focused initiatives like capacity expansion, higher productivity levels and enhanced R&D capability demonstrated through product refreshments.

A new car design philosophy, as evidenced in world strategic models like the Swift, SX4, A-Star, Ritz and WagonR helped to win customer's hearts.

Contemporary DDiS and Super Turbo Diesel engines and the K-Series petrol engines helped to reinforce the technological supremacy of Maruti Suzuki.

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History made! Maruti rolls out its 10 millionth car

Image: An employee walks between parked cars at Maruti Suzuki's stockyard on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
Photographs: Amit Dave/Reuters

Maruti Suzuki currently offers a wide range of 16 passenger vehicle models in India. It is the largest car maker with over 45 per cent share in India's passenger vehicle market.

Starting with the handing over to the first Maruti 800 to the first customer in December 1983, the company produced the first millionth car in 1994.

The cumulative production reached two million in 1997. The next big landmark of five million was reached in April 2005, almost 22 years after the first car was rolled out. 

The present product portfolio of the company includes compact cars Maruti 800, world's largest selling Alto, Alto K10, Estilo, WagonR, Ritz, A star and Swift, MPV Omni and Eeco, sedans Swift DZire and SX4 and SUV Gypsy.

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History made! Maruti rolls out its 10 millionth car

Image: The Suzuki Grand Vitara at the Geneva Car Show.
Photographs: Pierre Virot/Reuters

The company also imports Grand Vitara and premium luxury sport sedan Suzuki Kizashi, from Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan.

Maruti Suzuki range of models is available with petrol, diesel, CNG and LPG fuel options.

With over 900 sales outlets and 2900 service workshops, Maruti Suzuki has the largest sales and service network in India.

It is the sole base for producing diesel engines and the world strategic export model, A star for Suzuki Motor Corporation, globally.

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History made! Maruti rolls out its 10 millionth car

Image: Workers assemble a car at a Maruti Suzuki plant in Manesar.
Photographs: Danish Ismail/Reuters

With two manufacturing facilities and a combined manufacturing capacity of 10 lakh (1 million) cars a year, Maruti Suzuki currently produces over 12 lakh (1.2 million) units per annum.

The company is setting up two new plants which will bring in an additional annual capacity of 500,000 units.

Once these new facilities are in place by 2013, the company will have a capacity to manufacture over 17 lakh (1.7 million) units annually.

The company is also setting up an R&D facility, Suzuki's largest R&D centre outside Japan.

The Maruti Suzuki's R&D teams are working collaboratively with Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan for designing cars for the global markets.

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History made! Maruti rolls out its 10 millionth car

Image: Maruti A-Star.
Photographs: Vijay Mathur/Reuters

Maruti Suzuki's revenue has grown consistently over the years.

During 2009-10, Maruti Suzuki posted revenue of Rs 30119.7 crore (Rs 301.20 billion). The revenue was Rs 20,358.3 crore (Rs 203.58 billion) in 2008-09, up from Rs 17,860.3 crore (Rs 178.6 billion) in 2007-08.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited, started operations in India in 1983 (then Maruti Udyog Limited) as a joint venture between the Government of India and Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan.