Maruti Aims To Go Global With Upgraded R&D Facility

As per Moneycontrol, the R&D facility being set up in Rohtak in Haryana will be servicing customer requirements not just in India, but in Suzuki global markets such as Europe and Japan as well.

CV Raman, Executive Director (engineering), Maruti Suzuki India in an interaction with Moneycontrol said "We should be able to do end-to-end work. From product design and development to validation and testing. We want to develop that kind of capability."

The company has so far spent Rs 1,900 crore since 2011 towards setting up the first phase of the facility. The centre includes vehicle testing lab, a crash lab, race and testing circuits with more than 30 types and 33 kmof tracks and more than 220 engineers have been established in Phase one.

Maruti Suzuki claims that the centre is the only one of its kind in India to set up to meet the stringent safety norms due this October 2017.

Another Rs 1,900 crore will be spent for the Phase II which will take care of gearbox testing, EMC, right-hand drive testing centre, emission chamber, temperature control among others.

As per the new emission norms, which will come into effect from October 2017, all vehicles need to meet full frontal, offset frontal and side impact norms. Existing models have been given further two years (October 2019) to upgrade.

Also, features such as ABS, electronic stability control, seatbelt reminder and cars crash tested at the speed of 56km/h. Along with these features, cars will have to offer pedestrian protection safety norms are due in October 2018 for all new models and in October 2020 for existing cars.

As per Raman, Maruti's Ciaz, Ertiga, Baleno, S-Cross, Brezza and Ignis meet these norms. Slowly, Maruti's existing models like Alto, Swift and DZire will also be upgraded to meet the new safety norms.

Suzuki and Maruti Suzuki will continue to work on new projects jointly. The Vitara Brezza was the first model majorly developed by Maruti's engineers and classified as 'Global Development' by the company.

If you are looking to buy a Maruti Suzuki vehicle, then consider the upcoming next-generation Swift. The new Swift is sharper and sporty compared to the outgoing model. Below are the photos of the new Swift, click to view.