India’s leading automaker, Maruti Suzuki India has launched a new compact version its popular Swift Dzire sedan in Delhi. The company said that the model would have an introductory price between Rs. 4.79 lakh and Rs. 7.09 lakh.

Shinzo Nakanishi, the company's MD and CEO revealed the new shiny model and said that the prices are introductory and are likely to be increased later.

New Delhi, Feb 1 - Leading car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki Wednesday reported a modest 5.2 percent increase in January sales at 115,433 vehicles, with domestic sales still continuing to be sluggish.

The company had sold 109,743 units in January 2011.

Successive interest rate hikes and rising petrol prices have dented interest of car buyers since some time now. Also, the inability of Maruti to meet increased demand for diesel vehicles has led to the company registering lower sales.

Auto sector major, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL) has reported a fall of 63.6 per cent in net profit in the quarter till December 2011.

Maruti Suzuki’s profit as high interest rates and increasing fuel costs affected the demand for cars in the country. The company, in which 54.2 per cent is held by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, recorded a fall of 28 per cent in the December quarter because of a fall in small sales and labour unrest faced by the company.

New Delhi, Jan 5 : Automobile major Maruti Suzuki Thursday unvieled its new compact sports utility vehicle (SUV) on the first day of the 11th Auto Expo, terming the vehicle a bold new experiment.

"The choice of an automobile will be dictated more and more by the way of life of customers. We will launch new products and create new categories to their choice," Maruti Suzuki managing director and cheif executive Shinzo Nakanishi.

India's leading automaker, Maruti Suzuki India has reported a 7.1 per cent fall in sales in December, its seventh consecutive month for a fall in sales.

The company was able to sell 92,161 units in December 2011 compared to 99,225 units in the same month in the previous year, the company said in a statement. The company had sold 77,475 units in the domestic market in the month reporting a fall of 13.4 per cent from 89,469 units in December of previous year.

Several car makers in India are now offering attractive discounts towards the end of the year in order to improve sales in the country.

Manufacturers are offering rebates on petrol and some diesel models to sell the stock of older models before the new year. Car sales have fallen in the country by 3.53% to 1.2 million units in the April-November period compared to the same period of 2010.

Indian auto makers are considering increasing prices of their products to compensate for the depreciating value of the Indian rupee. Maruti Suzuki India, Toyotam General Motors and others are considering increasing price of their offering in the country to offset the rising cost of imports.

Maruti Suzuki India Managing Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales division, Mayank Pareek said, "Considering the amount of pressure that we are having on our margins due to currency fluctuations, we have to do something. We are looking at a price hike in January."

Pareek did not clarify if that if the price hike will be across all models or will only be for some selected models. He also did not announce the amount of price increases of the products.

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) is planning to showcase its new `K' cars during next month's auto show in India. The new tiny `K' cars are expected to compete with Tata Nano in the market. Maruti Suzuki will showcase two models of 660cc and another `K' car with a 1.2 litre engine at the auto show.

MSI chairman, R C Bhargava said, "These are not like the Nano. They are more sophisticated cars, with an aluminum engine... and they don't come cheap either."

India's leading automaker, Maruti Suzuki India has said that it is planning to increase prices of its products from January 2012 so as to cope with the declining value of the Indian rupee.

Maruti Suzuki India Managing Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales division, Mayank Pareek said, "Considering the amount of pressure that we are having on our margins due to currency fluctuations, we have to do something. We are looking at a price hike in January."

Workers of the India’s largest automaker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd might go on strike again over the unsatisfactory resolution of the issues following the reports of higher payments to some of the worker leaders to make them quit the company.

The company has seen one of the worst labour unrest at its plant in Manesar ever this year resulting in huge looses and slow production. The strike ended on 21 October after a tripartite agreement was reached between the management, the union representatives and the government of Haryana.

Auto maker, Maruti Suzuki has said that it has the rights to offer higher than normal severance packages to some of the striking workers, over its full and final settlement with 30 workers involved in the Manesar strike.

The company offering its comments for the first time on the controversial final settlement said that it was reached with the 30 workers, who were under suspension and facing an inquiry, after the intervention of the state government.

India’s leading automaker, Maruti Suzuki has said that the new land purchased in Gujarat will be used for expansion and is not meant for replacing the Haryana plants.

Recent reports in the media had suggested that the company might be planning to move out of Haryana and set up base in Gujarat followings months of unrest in its plants in the north Indian state. The company clarified that its Board of Directors approved the purchase of land in Gujarat for future capacity additions.

Maruti Suzuki, the country's biggest automaker, reported a fall of 52.2 per cent in sales for the month of October following prolonged labor unrest in its plants.

The company's production was 40,000 units lower due to labor strike and it was able to sell only 55,595 units in the month of October. However, the company expects the production at its plant in Manesar to reach the normal level of production sometime in December.

The worker's strike at Maruti Suzuki India's plant in Manesar in Haryana has ended after days following the company management's decision to accept some of the demands of the workers.

The strike came to an end after a tripartite agreement between the management, workers and the Haryana Government was agreed upon by the parties. Under the new agreement, the management has agreed to take back 64 permanent workers however; another 30 workers will continue to be suspended from the company.

Shiv Charan Lal Sharma, the Labour and Employment Minister of the Indian state of Haryana has said that private firms should hire casual labour directly fro the labour market instead of relying on contractors.

The minister said that the payments to them should be made through cheques. "Company should not hire casual workers through contractors rather they should hire them directly by negotiating with them. They can also ask the state employment department to provide workers on contract basis," Sharma said.

Auto maker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd has already suffered 15 billion
rupees in looses due to the labor unrest at the company's plants while
the talks between the striking workers and the company's management
remain inconclusive.

The chairman of Maruti Suzuki India, R. C. Bhargava said on Tuesday that
the company had made 50,000 fewer cars so far because of the unrest.
The production at the company's plant at Maruti's Manesar plant in
Haryana has resumed on Monday after the workers protesting there were

The authorities in the state of Harayana has declared a strike by workers of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd as illegal siding with the management of the automaker, which is facing production falls due to the labor unrest.

The workers who are striking at the factory at Manesar have been asked to vacate the factory by the local labor department and have also been urged to avoid involving in any unlawful activities to help prepare a conducive atmosphere for negotiations.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. is standing true to its words, as according to which they asked their employees to sign "good conduct bond" and then enter the company, and if not, then they would hire new employees as they cannot afford to stop their production of the new Swift model.

Maruti Suzuki manufacturers are criticizing politicians for jeopardizing its future at Manesar plant. The company has claimed that all the turmoil taking place at its plant is just because of the political interference rather than labor dispute.

Since the end of August, there has been continuous unrest among the labors. On 29th of August, the company’s administrators urged employees to sign a “good behavior bond”. It was hoped by the company that if the labor signs that bond then they won’t be able hold strike further.

After a strong growth of 30% for two consecutive years, the segment of passenger vehicles is being forecasted to meet a fall this year. The reasons of the fall in the growth are the increase in the rates of loan, fuel and even the vehicles.

The automobile company SIAM (Society of Indian Auto Manufacturers) witnessed a fall in the sales of its vehicles from 12-15% to11-13%. On the other hand, the sales of the other cars and two-wheelers will remain unaffected.