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Maruti Suzuki Limited's research and development (R&D) team in Gurgaon has manufactured a smart and sleek car, termed as the Global India car. It is the A-Star concept car by Maruti.

Maruti A Star will be an A-Segment car as per the European car standards. In the words of Shinzo Nakanishi, the managing director of Suzuki Motor Corporation the Maruti Suzuki India plans to commence production of A-Star by the end of October 2008. He also added that the car would be produced from the company's Manesar facility in Haryana.

Designed by Rajesh Kumar Gogu and Saurabh Singh of Maruti Suzuki India, the Maruti A Star car, which is a five-door hatchback with a 1,000 cc petrol engine has been engineered keeping in mind the trends and standards of the European market. On 16 January, apart from A-Star, Maruti Suzuki showcased two other concept cars –Kizashi and Splash.

By the end of 2010, Mr. Nakanishi and his team of Maruti Suzuki experts has planned to export almost 100,000 units of the new Maruti A Star to Europe. According to Nakanishi, the manufacturing capability of Maruti has peaked to a certain level and is capable of exporting the small Suzuki cars exclusively for the European market. It would be according to the Euro-V compliant with a 1.0-litre aluminum petrol engine. The pricing of the car however, is yet to be worked out.

An estimated figure of around 1, 00,000 units of Maruti A Star will cater to the European Markets under the Suzuki badge, the rest 50,000 units will be sold within India. The A-Star is regarded as one of the most desired projects of Maruti Suzuki India. The Suzuki team has pinned a lot of hope in it.

In fact, the concept of Maruti A Star is a first for Maruti Suzuki India's research and development team. Maruti Suzuki has entered into an agreement with Nissan to sell A-Star under the formers brand name in the US market. Nakanishi, however, ruled out an estimated price cut for Maruti 800 and rejected reports of Maruti's venture into the Rs.100, 000 segments.

After the Swift diesel, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) is now engaged working on a second-generation diesel engine, which will be launched with its fifth global car —Maruti A Star. The new five-door hatchback car, presented at the 9th Auto Expo along with other concept cars – Kazshi and Splash will have a newly developed Euro V-compliant 1.0 liter petrol engine.

Maruti A Star will be manufactured along with Swift. It is being planned at the MSILs Manesar plant that the desired capacity will be increased from one-lakh units of present to three lakh units once the production of A-Star starts. With exports from Mumbai port getting crammed, countrys second largest passenger car exporter, Maruti is now all set to explore in the ports of Gujarat with new vision and hope.



They are young Indians whove dared to dream big. Saurabh Singh (31) and Rajesh Kumar Gogu (27), brains behind Suzuki Motor Corporations ambitious A-Star Concept car that is slated to be globally launched by December 2008. If anything, the car promises to change the way the world will look at the Indian auto designers. The Suzuki concept car will be showcased at the Auto Expo Delhi 2008 on Wednesday.

While the Pune-based world renowned auto design guru Dilip Chhabaria is churning out hot wheels for the World Inc, the duo at Maruti Suzuki India Ltds R&D team in Gurgaon have designed the concept car that is being pitted as the global Indian car. The compact car is a joint collaboration between Maruti Suzuki India and Suzuki Motor Corp and is smart, active and fun to drive.

But more importantly, it is Indian having drawn inspiration from an elephants trunk, its eyes, curves of flower petals and even henna, explains Singh who has designed the exterior of the concept car. Gogu who is credited for designing the concept car interiors, says he took inspiration from an aeroplanes cockpit and its wings, that went into designing the front panel of the car. Bright pink colour is what the duo thought of to remind the world about India.

Singh said the car is an attempt to change the way the world looks at Indian car designers.

A car is a machine. But so what? Why should we work only on foreign models and not have something that is totally ours and reflective of our culture? Let us at least make an attempt to give food for thought to other designers to bring about Indian features in a car, he says.

The 3580 mm-long car in sleek silver metallic colour with a 996 cc petrol engine has been designed keeping the European market in mind and Maruti Suzuki India expects to commence production of the A-Star car by October 2008, said the managing director of Suzuki Motor Corporation Shinzo Nakanishi. The car would be manufactured from the companys Manesar facility, he said.

The pricing of the car is yet to be worked out, he added. A-Star will be an A-Segment car as per European Nomenclature (A-2 segment in India), EURO-V compliant with a 1.0-litre aluminium petrol engine and environment friendly: CO2 emission of the car will be lower than those of European competitors

This could be considered one of the most ambitious projects of the Maruti Suzuki India. Considering until now, the R&D team did not do a car completely except for a facelift of various models, said IV Rao. He is the executive director of the engineering, research, design and development division that was working on the A-Star concept car since April 2007.

The company has entered into an agreement with Nissan to sell A-Star under the latters brandname in the US market, Nakanishi informed.

The company expects to churn out 1,50,000 units in 2009-10. While 1 lakh units will be exported to Europe, the rest would be for the domestic market. Nakanishi informed that the company is scouting for land in Gujarat to set up a captive port facility. We plan to shift our exports from Mumbai to Gujarat by 2008-end. Mumbai is congested and we would like to have a pre-delivery inspection centre at the port in Gujarat, he said without divulging too much about the project.

Info Collected From Various Press Releases...