Maruti planning to launch electric cars in India!

Finally the giant has awaken! Maruti today said that it will roll out electric cars in India in next four to five years.“We are developing electric car technology for India. But it might take us up to the next five years or more to manufacture and sell electric cars in the domestic market,” said Maruti Suzuki Managing Director Shinzo Nakanishi. Nakanishi also said that Suzuki’s R&D unit will put in large investments to develop electric cars with larger range (mileage per charge) and affordable price.“Cars available in the domestic market can give, say, 120 km per charge. What they are implying is 120 km for a single passenger — which means the power is sufficient for the driver of the car alone,” said Nakanishi. “If another passenger joins, the travel range per charge drops to 60 km. If a third persons sits behind the range drops to 30 km. We are trying to address the longer range of driving in our R&D work,” he explained. On pricing, Nakanishi said, “You have Honda and Toyota, which have proven, commercially viable hybrid technology cars. But internationally, they sell in small volumes. Globally, Suzuki is known as a low-cost car manufacturer selling in large volumes. We would like to achieve that for electric cars in India.”
Maruti Suzuki which currently sells LPG variant of 800 and Wagon-R is also looking at CNG for some of its models. “We are working on multi-fuel variants and some models have been identified for CNG. A CNG kit currently costs over Rs 40,000 and that is expensive. Also, these cars can only be launched in 2010 or 2011, when there is a pan-India CNG filling system from companies like Reliance.”Maruti Suzuki Chairman R C Bhargava said. :)

Low weight MS cars with efficient electric motor, probability of their success is more, as they know what is needed for our market and what would we buy. But five years is really long period.

good news
but like CC said
5 years is long
but "better late than never"!

But HM and Bajaj are also developing electric cars
HM plans to roll out by 2011-12
As for Bajaj they are concentrating there capital more on the "Lite" so there electric cars might take a few more years,
As for HM they are developing using Mitsubishi's electric technology, however such technology is very expensive, also the price will be based on the Govt subsidy.

Seems like the Electric car segment which Maini created with its Reva is also going to see some competiton in coming future, Thats why maini has already pulled up its socks and is planning to launch a facelifted Reva!

Maybe but the Reva is basically a 2 seater car
priced in the 3 lakh segment
it really isnt that much appealing to the Indian buyer
Indians prefer family cars, so a 4/5 seater is a must
also the car should have good endurance cause if you run out of batteries in a crowded road it is a bit embarrasing. :drive:

car-o-static wrote:Maybe but the Reva is basically a 2 seater car
priced in the 3 lakh segment
it really isnt that much appealing to the Indian buyer
Indians prefer family cars, so a 4/5 seater is a must
also the car should have good endurance cause if you run out of batteries in a crowded road it is a bit embarrasing. :drive:

Lol, You are right but i hope the new reva will be better and will be able to accomodate 4 people, atleast from spy pics it looks like -

New Reva is expected to cost around 6 lakhs.

Doesn't look like a Reva,looks like a Proton.

New Reva to cost 6 lacs... Oh my god, hope it is worth the money. But once Maruti kicks in with its electric cars, others will take a good beating because of Maruti's bullet-proof reputation..!!

The reason Maruti survived for so long is because of Suzuki
otherwise Chevrolet would have taken the market by storm long ago
I mean admit it
had the spark been priced within 3 lacs would anyone had gone for the alto or M800 for that matter. If the U-VA came with a 16valve engine I would purchase that anyday over any other hatchback car. I would have chosen the Captiva over the Grand Vitara anyday despite the fact that the Chevy would cost me 6 lac dearer. More people go for the Honda City than SX4. Am not being biased or anything its just that I don't find Marutis all that appealing if compared to Chevrolet or even Honda for that matter. The reason they survive is because of the low maintainence cost and cheaper price tags.

ghost wrote:Doesn't look like a Reva,looks like a Proton.

I guess you are saying it to be a proton because of the shape of its lamps, but its likely to be new reva only. :)

Thats new reva only, anyways let us not go :offtopic:


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