Maruti plans unique design for Indian market

India's largest passenger car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki has begun development work on its first fully indigenous car. As reported by Indian website financialexpress.com, the idea was spawned following a recent trip to India by Suzuki Motor Corporation (Japan) chairman Osamu Suzuki.

The company is striving to develop and design its own vehicles for future production, but its engineering team is also employing the resources of Japanese and Indian research and development experts, as well as automotive engineers from the US motor city of Detroit.

The team will work under the guidance of Maruti Suzuki's managing executive officers (engineering) IV Rao and K Asahi and will be tested in selected European markets before being sold locally.

Although a fixed timeline for the product has not yet been set, sources close to the venture say development is underway, with Maruti Suzuki set to save a 'substantial amount of money' in royalties it currently pays to Suzuki Motor Corporation (Japan).

Once completed in 2015 Maruti Suzuki's 700-acre R&D centre at Rohtak in Haryana could even reverse that trend as its new vehicles attract interest from elsewhere in the Suzuki world. Local media outlets quoted Maruti Suzuki's chairman, RC Bhargava, as saying: "There is logic in Suzuki Motor paying a royalty to Maruti... The issue is bound to be addressed at an appropriate time".

Maruti has not revealed what sort of vehicle is under development. It might be a larger car than the Suzuki Alto (pictured) the company builds and exports to Australia -- or it could be as small as the Tata Nano. Either way, it's not likely to be a Commodore or Falcon rival. But on that point, would Suzuki sell the car in Australia? If the Japanese company did, how would such a car be greeted by the local market?

Typically, Aussie consumers here are slow to adopt cheaper, smaller city cars with, such models as the Suzuki Alto and Proton S16 representing only a small portion of sales at the market's lower end. The light car segment however, such as Suzuki Swift and Toyota Yaris sell in strong numbers.

So is the issue related to vehicle size, our want of more vehicular real estate, country of origin or perceived underlying issues like drivability and safety?

It's an intriguing argument, and one that Carsales Network encourages our readers to weigh in on. If Maruti Suzuki or indeed Tata were to offer a Nano-sized vehicle with a four-figure price tag in Australia -- that is, under $10,000 -- would we see a shift in our motoring mentality? Or are we just too set in our ways? How do you think such a car would stack up -- and would it make any difference whether the car is built in India or another low-cost labour market such as China?

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