MUL discontinues Maruti 1000, Gypsy models

MUL discontinues Maruti 1000, Gypsy models
AGENCIES

SEPT 13: The models, powered by a 1000cc engine, have been discontinued after the company decided not to upgrade the powertrains to meet existing emission norms.

MUL chief general manager Rohtash Mal said that the company has decided to focus on the 1.3 litre engines with both Maruti three-box design car and gypsy. ``With time, we have decided to rationalise our product range. Further, since our future plans did not include Maruti 1000 and Gypsy 1000, we decided to discontinue the models,'' Mal added. He further stated that the company has no plans to reintroduce the two models.

While the gypsy has been discontinued, the Gypsy king, with an upgraded 1300cc engine, is now being sold. The company had been selling the Maruti 1000, which was reintroduced last year, till May this year. MUL had sold 11 units of the car in January this year, and followed it with 27 units in February and 74 units in March. It managed to sell five more units in April this year, and the car has since then been pulled out of the market.

Maruti 1000 was targeted at markets outside the national capital region. Maruti 1000, it may be recalled was reintroduced over a year back to pull back demand in the B-segment and to provide an entry level three-box car in India.

Meanwhile, Maruti Udyog is striving to drive out of the woods. The company has already cornered a 58 per cent share of the passenger car market in August this year as against 52 per cent in the beginning of the 2000 calendar year.

MUL managing director Jagdish khattar said that the company is now striving to maintain and grow its market share further. Towards this end, the company had recently introduced power steering as standard feature in its Wagon-R and also slashed prices.

MUL, Khattar said, had started the 2000 calendar year with sales of 26,590. This amounted to 52 per cent of the 51,253 total passenger cars sold during the month. The share grew to 57 per cent in February, having sold 30,303 units but slid to 56 per cent despite an increase in sales to 37,900 in March this year, the highest this year.

April, a traditionally low sales month for the industry, saw the company's sales drop to 29,911 units even as the market share remained at 56 per cent. However, its market share crashed in the next two months to 51 per cent and 41 per cent. The company had sold 25,720 units and 14,543 units in May and June this year as against an industry total of 50,866 and 35,600 respectively.

The company's total sales moved up to 26,379 units in July and further rose to 29,840 units in August. The company maintained its market share at 58 per cent during the two months. ``Our performance in the entry level A-segment has also improved in the past from 18,775 units in January to 20,693 units in August. In the B-segment, with the introduction of wagon-R, our market share has improved from 24 per cent (6,329 units) to 33 per cent (7,803),'' Khattar said.

However, the company's performance in the C-segment (mid-sized) took a beating on increased competition from Ford Ikon, Hyundai Accent and Opel Corsa. The company sold 1,344 units of its mid-sized cars in August this year, down from 1,486 units in January this year. Sales of both its cars in the segment registered a beating during the year. While Esteem sales dropped from 1,158 units in January to 1,046 units in August, Baleno sales dropped from 328 units to 298 units.