HYDERABAD: Come 2010, the country’s leading car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, will stop producing its flagship model, Maruti 800 (M800), the commoner’s car for over two decades.
With India gearing up to implement new vehicular emission norms, Bharat Stage-IV (equivalent to Euro- IV emission norms), Maruti has decided to stop production of M800 as it does not comply with the new emission norms. As a result, several car owners are queuing up to dispose of the good old car and find a good bargain before it will be too late.
Bharat Stage-IV emission norms are nothing but new vehicular emission standards brought in by the Union Government based on the Mashelkar Committee report to improve air quality.
These norms are introduced such that the changeover is gradual and smooth, first in metros by 2010 and by 2015- 16 in all other places.
This means, all those M800 owners in metros and major cities will have to stop using the vehicle from next year. As the new norms fall in place, car owners have started hunting for buyers.
While some take the help of middlemen, others are thronging Maruti’s TrueValue hubs, which are nothing but organised used car sales showrooms, to get the car valued and put it on the block.
“We are receiving a lot of enquiries from customers to get the valuation done.
While the sales have dropped in top cities, M800 still continues to be one of the topselling models in Tier II and III cities,’’ said a sales executive at Varun Motors. So exactly 25 years and after selling more than 27 lakh units, the sales of M800, which was once the highestselling car for the company, is going southward.
For instance, while the company sold 69,553 units in the last quarter of 2008, it sold 49,383 units for the same period in 2009 registering a 29 per cent decline.
Similarly, Maruti sold 6,353 units in March 2008 where as sales declined by 61.8 per cent in March 2009 (2,430 units sold).
Industry analysts attribute the reasons for the decline in sales to two factors.
“One, competition.
Two, M800 does not comply with the new emission standards,’’ says Jagdish Khattar, former managing director of Maruti Suziki India.
With the Tata Nano and Chevorlet Spark being available at affordable prices, M800’s market is now limited to rural areas. It remains to be seen if passengers in the Tier II and III cities will continue to patronise their favourite car.
source: expressbuzz
