Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.

In a bid to increase the production of diesel cars, Maruti Suzuki India may decide within two months on setting up a diesel engine unit at its Gurgaon plant. The company had to take a decision within a month or two to make its own diesel engines after the Budget spared diesel tax and demand for diesel cars have soared in India as petrol is priced much higher than the government subsidized diesel.

The company, which sources diesel engines from Suzuki Powertrain India (SPIL) and Fiat India, had held back the investments on the plant awaiting clarity over tax on diesel and a clear policy on its pricing.

With demand for diesel cars increasing SPIL is increasing its diesel engine capacity to 3 lakh units per annum from 2.4 lakh units. Moreover, Maruti Suzuki will also get one lakh diesel engines a year from Fiat, which has already started since January this year.

Maruti Suzuki (India) sold a total of 118949 vehicles in the month of February 2012, up by 6.5% as compared to 111645 vehicles in February 2011. This includes 11,296 units of exports during the month, registering 11.8% increase.