Five Million WagonRs sold worldwide

Suzuki Motor Corporation announced that the total worldwide sales of the tall boy WagonR has reached 5 Million units at the end of February this year. While 5 million units is a huge number, Japan contributed 3,498,000 while Indians and Chinese bought 832,000 and 330,000 WagonRs respectively. Apart from these three countries, 340,000 units were sold in the rest of the world. The Indian sales figure is not even close to the Japanese figure because in Japan, the WagonR has been on sale for four generations while the second generation of the Indian WagonR will be launched on April 23rd. Read the previous article below.

The WagonR has been on sale in various countries (66 to be precise) and has been a very successful model largely because of its practical nature. It has twice won the Automotive Researchers’ and Journalists’ Conference of Japan (RJC) Car of the Year award and has been the top-selling minivehicle in Japan for seven consecutive years.

Maruti will launch the all new WagonR on 23rd April. It is based on the all new 4th Generation Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) WagonRs platform and features all new powertrain and suspension systems. The new WagonR will be powered by the K10B 3-cylinder engine currently doing duty in the A-Star and Estilo. The new engine promises improved performance and a huge improvement in fuel efficiency – ARAI figures are 18.9km/l, just 0.7km/l away from the A-Star. With more outright space than its competition (and siblings), the new model is expected to set benchmarks for the segment in terms of space. It will have a stiffer chassis and tailored blanks are used all over and these specially treated, sandwiched and layered pieces of steel help provide stiffness without adding wasteful bulk. The new WagonR also features an all new subframe that carries the powertrain and suspension. The lower arms are now pivoted on two points on the sub-frame against the single point pivot on the earlier model. This will improve driving dynamics by a large extent while reducing NVH levels to offer a refined drive.

The new WagonR comes loaded with kit right from tilt-steering, ergonomically designed gear knob, electrically operated ORVMs, new HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning system) design, improved rear legroom, storage tray under co-driver’s seat, dual-tone interiors, new steering wheel and lots more.

On the sidelines of holding a sneak preview of the model, Mayank Pareekh, executive officer, Marketing and Sales, MSIL, said, “It’s not a minor change and everything is new in this model. Usually, the company spends around Rs. 40-50 crore on refurbishing any existing model for it to be launched in a new avatar. But in the new WagonR, MSIL had spent more than Rs. 290 crore besides the investment from vendors. A lot of investments have gone into the development of the product to make it an optimal choice for the Indian consumer.” Pareekh said as of now MSIL would only be manufacturing the petrol version of the WagonR which would give more power and fuel efficiency.

He also added that, “The hatchback is India’s No.2 selling car only after Alto and we hope to retain this leadership position with new WagonR.”

Maruti Suzuki’s New K-Series Wagon R To Be Launched On April 23

Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) is all set to introduce a new version of its second-best-selling car, the WagonR. A Rs 290-core investment had been made by the company for the development of its new car which will hit roads through the dealers across India on April 23.

Though the New Maruti WagonR has not yet been displayed on any platform, but a handful group of journalists were given a sneak peek at the car by Maruti.

The K-series WagonR model shows more taller longer and spacious stance than its predecessor. It will feature the newly developed K-10B engine from the popular K-series engines which is also part of the Zen Estilo and the A-Star. The price for the new Maruti WagonR model is still not revealed, though it is expected to be slightly above the previous models price range of Rs 3.30 to 3.50 lakh. The vehicle will be sold in three variants – LX, LXI, VXI.

Mileage is expected to be around 18.9 kmpl under test conditions by MSIL. The car will be features a cable-type transmission, which makes gear-shifting an easier process. The new HVAC design also allows for superior cooling. MSIL will be obtaining 93% of the total car parts for the new WagonR locally, while the rest will be imported from Japan.

MSIL currently only has plans to market the petrol version of the new model. The new Maruti WagonR also has the basic qualities of the previous version, which has sold more than 8.5 lakh units since its launch in 1999. The company hopes to retain the position and in fact do better with with the launch of its new model.

Get Toyota Fortuner Brakes Upgrade From Toyota

Toyota has been feeling the heat of car-recalls and problems discovered with its vehicles in past. Although the cars by Toyota are really nice, but there are scopes of improvement with almost all cars. Toyota Fortuner is a mighty SUV from Toyota and had similar disk brakes as Toyota Innova. Based on the feedback from the customers that the brakes felt not-so-good, Toyota has improved the brakes of Fortuner and now it get the bigger disks and better calipers, same as that fitted in the Toyota Prado.

The new brakes, being larger and more effective than the previous ones, perform with more ease. These upgraded brakes are now standard with Fortuner SUVs made after February 2010.

If you have bought your Fortuner recently and are not happy with the brakes, you can contact Toyota and you may get an upgrade for free. This is done by Toyota on case-by-case basis if a problem is reported by a customer.

It is a welcomed step as by these kind of measures, the customers really feel that the car seller cares for their convenience and safety.

Hyundai to launch Santa Fe in India this year

Korean automobile major Hyundai Motor India Ltd would introduce its popular Sports Utility Vehicle 'Santa Fe' in the Indian market as a Completely Built Unit (CBU) this year, a top company official said.

Santa Fe was first introduced globally in 2001 as Hyundai's first SUV.

"We will bring the Santa Fe SUV to India this year. It will be completely built unit. But after two-three years we may consider it for manufacturing as (Completely Knocked Down) unit", company's Managing Director Hang-Woo Park told reporters at the sidelines of a function here.

HMIL Marketing and Sales Vice president Arvind Saxena said the existing SUV, Tucson, would not compete with Santa Fe as both are built on different platforms. "There are no plans to give a facelift to Tucson.It will not compete with Santa Fe". However he declined to name a price for the new variant.

On plans to introduce a 800cc small car, he said it was in the development stage and was planned to be launched in India by 2011. HMIL had invested close to Rs 800 crore on producing the car, whichwould be slotted below Hyundai Santro, he said.

Saxena said the recently launched upgraded version of Hyundai i20 had received very good response from the market.

He said all of Hyundai's models would be given aa facelift. "You know the segments we operate in. We will give a facelift to all models", he said. The Hyundai stable currently offers Santro, i10, i20, Accent, Verna and Sonata models.

He said HMIL planned to sell around 5.25 lakh cars this year, of which 50 per cent is from the domestic market.

Saxena said the number of dealerships would be increased to 320 from 289 at present by the end of 2010.

He claimed the company has a 20.8 per cent market share in South and aimed to increase it to 22 per cent by year end.

Saxena said the company has also identified newer export markets and may export to countries like Vienna, New Zealand, Russia and Australia."Already we are exporting to 110 nations. We want to add another 10 more markets this year", he said.

Park and Saxena were here to officially inaugurate HMIL fourth dealership 'V3 Hyundai' in Chennai.