Where does Maruti stand without 1.3 MJD?

[Amish993]

Remember that nose diving Maruti Zen and Esteem D 1.5 diesel? Maruti had sourced that archaic engine from Peugot, that would have been the picture had Maruti been unable to soucre the extremly versatile 1.3 MJD from FIAT. Today nearly 80% of sales of Maruti are accounted by its top models Alto 800 & K10, Wagon R, Swift, Dzire and Ertiga, the last three contribute to nearly 60% of that overall 80%, enough of stats though, the basic question is that Maruti is already losing a vital share of pie to Hyundai and in a scenario if Maruti didnt source that 1.3 MJD diesel than where does it stand on the sales chart, also I had heard some websites showing April Fools prank as MSIL acquiring i-DTEC from Honda!

[PrancingHorse]

Interesting topic Amish. Yes I have too lived through the days of the Zen and Esteem D which came with the TUD5 Peugeot engines. Though some told me the cars were fuel efficient, they were a wrong match for these cars. These engines today would be like stone age. I drove the Premier Rio with the same TUD5 and it was pathetic to say the least . No wonder they switched to MJD as well.

One must remember that Maruti was also an only petrol manufacturer and said no to diesel but had to join the bandwagon. Honestly things would be different if Honda had an iDTec before Maruti got it MJD cars. They too would have the same problems which Honda faced due to an all petrol line up. Sales charts would not look the way they do.

And who knows that April fools joke could have just made it to reality. Who knows?

[librankur]

An engine is the main stay of a vehicle.

While Maruti / Suzuki can acquire anything from anywhere , A company like Honda cannot be seen acquiring Diesel engines , they have TOO MUCH of a reputation at stake there , the PRIDE would have never let them do so , its like a captain of a ship who would go down with it rather than look for a life boat to sail across.

Honda took its time in developing it for India and faced almost wipeout like situation for its products, some of them actually wiped out .

Now ,when it has an Ace up its sleaves why would it share its engine with MS.

I have limited knowledge , do let me know to what other manufacturers does Honda offers its engines .

In my estimation , Honda should make this engine increasing expensive for MS to acquire from it , if at all, and use its iteration in other of its India based products and make us even more happier.

A Diesel City, A Diesel Civic , A Diesel Accord , A Diesel CRV makes my juices flowing .

PS : Dear Honda please give us Diesel Automatics

[Sstar]

I think MSIL is a reputed name in small and compact petrol car segments, thanks to its K series engines and reputation made by 800/Alto/Esteem. However it is not taken as a good reliable company for bigger engined car....look at Baleno history. it was not taken well by Indians and same is with Vitara & Kizashi now.

I think diesel is a must for MSIL and on the same time they can not survive in Indian market without a diesel so that is why they have only one choice that is to buy it from FIAT.

[Gomzi]

This is an interesting hypothetical scenario

If Maruti did not have the 1.3 MJD, they would not be leading the charts. However, considering that the Alto and Wagon R - both petrol engined cars - are among top sales performers for Maruti, I don't think they would be too far behind. Remember that the diesel Swift came out almost 1.5yrs after the petrol engined model which was already a runaway sensation. And Maruti has been one company which has been unafraid to experiment with alternative fuel (CNG/LPG) powered cars and you have to wonder why other manufacturers haven't followed that trend quickly.

So to summarize this scenario, maruti would still be strong (maybe even leading) in the small car segment with Alto, Wagon R and petrol Swift, but overall sales would probably be much closer to all other manufacturers.

Its like comparing a fashion and class. Fashion is temporary and keeps changing, class is permanent. Similarly, this craze for diesel is also temporary. The companies which will be class leading consistently over decades will always be ones which have strong basics in place when building cars.

[Amish993]

The problem deepens further when Maruti's further upcoming products like XA Alpha, SX4 and so on are going to be powered by MJD and MJD II series of engine.