Maruti Suzuki to roll out LCV project on limited scale

Maruti Suzuki India, the country's largest car maker, plans to roll out its light commercial vehicles (LCV) project on a limited scale, a top company executive said on Friday.

"We will begin the LCV project on a very limited scale and take the initiative forward by understanding the marketing and sales experience. We will slowly roll out it as we do not want to rush into it. The commercial vehicle sector is a new sector for us," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Chairman RC Bhargava said on the sidelines of SIAM Annual Convention.

In an August interview to PTI, he had said Maruti plans to launch one ton LCV, which is in the same segment as Tata Ace and Mahindra Gio and Ashok Leyland's Dost, by next year.

MSI will have a separate sales and service network for the LCV.

"We are in the process of setting up sales and distribution network for LCV because you cannot sell LCVs and cars from the same outlets. The customers are different, facilities required are different," he had said.

When asked what kind of growth he expects this year, Bhargava said, "I expect that our company will continue to grow in double digits this year."

Bhargava also remained bullish about festive season sales. He said, "Normally we see an improvement 20-25 per cent in sales during the festive season so we expect that the trend will continue this year also."

He also expressed satisfaction on the functioning of the Narendra Modi government.

"I think the government has made a very good beginning, but this is totally unrealistic (to expect a quick revival), as the economy had really gone into such a decline over a period of time and so many ills had crept into the entire system...lack of governance, lack of implementation... So it will take much longer than 2-3 months to bring about a change," he said.

When asked about the discounting trend followed by the industry to push sales, he said, "While we are growing at double digits, rest of industry is not growing so well. And there are many companies which are not growing at all. if there is discounting being done by some companies then other have to follow suit."

On the company's upcoming model Ciaz in mid-sized sedan segment, Bhargava said, "We hope this car will do better than what we have achieved in the past."

When asked if the company has set a voting date to get nod from its minority shareholders' to let parent Suzuki Motor Corp own and invest in its Gujarat facility, he said, "We have not yet determined the date of voting."