4-speed Automatic Transmission (AT)
5-speed Manual Transmission (MT) * Estimated values may differ under various conditions.

Revamped interiors. Integrated rear spoiler. ABS and airbags available as optional for the customers. With 50-50 rear split seats. Updated front seat head restraints. New alloy wheels. More powerful engine not available presently.

Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest car-maker, has come up with its youngest brand A-star in a revamped form. Maruti New A-star is known for its contemporary styling, fantastic handling and ride quality, dynamic turning radius, power, flat torque and superior performance. In addition, the eco-friendly characteristic of the car adds to its popularity. It is designed to meet the "end of life vehicle" (ELV) specifications according to which the cars components are up to 85% recyclable.

An automatic variant of the New A-star has been introduced to strengthen its position and enhance its drivability. It accounts for almost 1/3 rd of A-Star sales. The scooped front seats back is introduced to enhance the leg room for rear passengers.

Rated as the "Most fuel efficient car" in the world by Global green challenge Australia, 2nd most environmental friendly car by VCD Germany, Maruti Suzuki A-star is one of the most awarded cars in MSIL's list of cars. It has also bagged the "Total Customer Satisfaction Award" in 2009-10, 2010-11, "Car of the year" felicitation from leading auto magazines, Topgear, Zigwheels and Autocar.

The Maruti Suzuki New A-star is available in the following variants- LXI, VXI, VXI AT, ZXI and ZXI (with ABS and Airbags). It is available in an array of seven colors which include Glistening grey, Caffeine Brown, Paradise Blue, Silky Silver, Arctic White, Bright Red and Midnight Black.

The Maruti Suzuki New A-star is equipped with the flamboyant 998 cc 3 cylinder K10B petrol engine which churns out 66 bhp @ 6200 rpm and a maximum torque of 90 Nm @ 3500 rpm. Maruti Suzuki A-star is the first car from Maruti Suzuki fitted with the latest invention in engine technology, the new generation KB Series engine.

The new Maruti Suzuki A-star is available with the option of 4-speed automatic transmission and 5-speed manual transmission.

The suspension device consist of MacPherson strut and coil spring in the front and Isolated trailing link and coil spring at the rear which imparts precise handling and ride comfort even on bumpy roads.

The new Maruti Suzuki A-star delivers impressive aesthetics. It gets new alloy wheels, body colored bumper, new integrated rear spoiler which imparts a sumptuous look. New integrated rear spoiler for sportiness has also been introduced.

The new Maruti Suzuki A-star sports completely revamped interiors. The interior is luxurious with 50-50 rear split seats which have enhanced user convenience and boot space usage, reworked front seat head restraints, handy cubby holes, bottle holders have been added for comfort and ease, cabin light, floor carpet, cup holders, assist grips (co driver and rear) and sunvisor with ticket holder. The dual "grey and beige" interiors impart a feeling of airiness and space.

The The new Maruti Suzuki A-star has been designed keeping the highest safety standards in mind. It is equipped with many safety features which include total effective control technology, child-proof rear door locks, high mounted stop lamp, front ventilated disc 13 inch, front wipers and washer with intermittent and immobiliser. The ABS and airbags are now available as optional for the customers.

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03 February, 2012 To reduce the transit time and increase delivery of vehicles, country’s largest auto-maker Maruti Suzuki would set up its stockyard facility in Nagpur, a top company official said today.
“We will be setting up one in Nagpur soon..”, Maruti Suzuki India Managing Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales) Mayank Pareek told reporters here.
Asked whether the delivery of its latest sedan DZire would be increased with the setting up of stockyard, he said “We are only producing 8,000 units in our plant. We should be increasing the production.. This stockyard would help to reduce the transit time of other products..”, he said.
Currently, delivery of DZire takes upto three to four months.
He said stockyard would be established region-wise so that there would not be any delay in delivery of the vehicles.
“We just opened one in Bangalore.. (for southern region). We will be setting up one in Nagpur soon..”, he said.
Pareek and senior company officials were here to launch the new DZire at Tamil Nadu market.
The new DZire has at least 150 new features compared to the existing model.
The petrol variant is priced at Rs 4.77 lakh to Rs 6.20 lakh (ex-showroom Chennai) and the diesel variant from Rs 5.82 lakh to Rs 7.12 lakh (ex-showroom Chennai).
Maruti Suzuki reported a 5.18 per cent rise in sales in January at 1,15,433 units. The company had sold 1,09,743 units in the same month last year.

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06 February, 2012 The country’s largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki is yet to firm up the land requirement for its proposed new manufacturing plant in Gujarat.
“We do have plans to go to Gujarat and preliminary talks have been already held with the state government. But nothing has been decided on when and how much land will be acquired there,” Managing Executive Officer (Engineering) of Maruti Suzuki I V Rao told reporters here today.
He said that the idea behind the Gujarat plant was to serve export markets through the Mundra port.
"The matter has not been placed before the board for approval yet," Rao said at the launch of new Swift Dzire sedan here.
Rao said the Gujarat idea was floated in May, 2011, when the industry was growing at a healthy rate of 18 per cent.
But with the slowdown in car sales subsequently, no progress had been made in this regard, he said.
With SIAM predicting annual growth of 10 per cent in the automobile segment next few years, the Gurgaon and Manesar plants would suffice to meet the demand.
Post completion of the third plant at Manesar, Maruti’s annual production capacity would touch 1.75 million units.
He said that steps were also being taken to reduce the waiting period for diesel cars by increasing production.

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19.1 kmpl(Overall)(Petrol)
17.4 kmpl(Overall)(Petrol AT)
23.4 kmpl(Overall)(Diesel)
K-Series Petrol engine with VVT, 86 bhp.
DDiS Diesel Engine, 74 bhp.
5-Speed Manual Transmission (MT)
4-Speed Automatic Transmission (AT) * Estimated values may differ under various conditions.

150 new features added. Is less than 4 m thus qualifies the excise duty benefits. Good suspension. Body colored bumper imparts sumptuous looks. Luxurious interiors with front door trim pocket. ABS with BA and EDC present. The boot space is little reduced.

Maruti Suzuki, India's number one automobile manufacturer, has come up with the new Swift Dzire.

The DZire is the sedan version of the swift hatchback. It was launched in 2008 and 3.2 lakhs units are sold till date. This model did not enjoy the excise benefit as it was not less than 4 m in length. The New Swift DZire is loaded with many features, striking looks, luxurious interiors and many safety features.

The compact Swift Dzire sedan is less than 4 m in length that helps it qualify for the excise duty benefits offered by the government of India to the manufacturers whose cars measure less than 4 meters in length. The New Swift DZire is available in the following variants- LDI, VDI, ZDI in Diesel and LXI, VXI, ZXI, VXI AT in Petrol.

The New Swift DZire provides a choice of two engines. The 1197 cc 4-cylinder K-Series Petrol engine with VVT churns out a power of 86 bhp @ 6000 rpm and a maximum torque of 114 Nm @ 4000 rpm. The 1248 cc 4-cylinder DDiS engine delivers 74 bhp @ 4000 rpm and a maximum torque of 190 Nm @ 2000 rpm. It comes with an option of 4-speed automatic transmission and the 5-speed manual transmission.

The suspension system of the New Swift DZire consist of MacPherson strut with coil spring in the front and Torsion-beam with coil spring in the rear which imparts higher mounting rigidity and confident stability. The New Swift DZire has ventilated disc brakes at the front and drum brakes at the rear.

The New Swift DZire has a perfect blend of style and substance with its bold design and magnificent body graphics. It has a body colored bumper, mud guard, high mounted stop lamp, front fog lamp, rear fog lamp, front 2 speed+fixed intermittent wipers, green tinted glass that imparts a sumptous look.

The interior of the New Swift DZire is luxurious with front door trim pocket, glove box, folding assistant grip, sun visor, ticket holder, remote back door opener, audio antenna, front head restraint, accessory socket, low fuel warning lamp, cup-holder and remote fuel lid opener. The instrument panel and the console includes speedometer, seat belt reminder, light-on reminder buzzer, Key-on reminder buzzer, door closure warning lamp and a multi functional display depicting the fuel consumption, trip/odometer and digital clock. The boot space has been reduced to 316 litres.

The New Swift DZire has been designed keeping the highest safety standards in mind. It is equipped with many safety features which include ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) with BA (Brake Assist) and EDC (Engine Drag Control) that prevents skidding and helps in ensuring a minimum stopping distance on slippery surface. The rigid body of the car provides superior handling and a comfortable ride.

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06 February, 2012 The country’s largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki will launch more diesel models to maintain its market share, which has been under pressure for months now, a top company executive has said.
“Our market share has slipped to 40 per cent in 2011. This was due to slowdown in the industry and lower sales of petrol models compared to diesel car production,” Maruti Suzuki Managing Director and Chief Executive Shinzo Nakanishi said here.
The company will now focus on producing more diesel models. The company will be able to produce 300,000 diesel engines a year through Suzuki Powertrain, a joint venture between Maruti and Suzuki Motor’s Gurgaon unit.
Maruti will also buy up to 100,000 diesel engines annually for three years from Fiat India under a pact between the Italian car-maker and Maruti’s parent Suzuki Motor Corp. This is expected to help the company produce more diesel cars, Nakanishi said.
Customer preference here is fast shifting to diesel cars as the fuel is cheaper than petrol. The shift has prompted auto-makers to introduce new diesel variants and increase production of existing variants. Players like Ford have also announced plans to invest on diesel engines.
Maruti’s Swift, Ritz, Swift DZire and SX4 models are sold with 1.3-litre diesel engines.
Meanwhile, Maruti has witnessed a turnaround in monthly sales after seven consecutive months of decline with a 5.18 per cent spike in sales to 1,15,433 units in January. It sold 1,09,743 units in the same month last year. Last December, its sales had declined by 7.1 per cent to 92,161 units.
"Following the turnaround in the auto industry, our first target will be to quickly cover growth of 10-11 per cent as we have had a negative growth of 17 per cent during the April-December, 2011, period," Nakanishi said.
Commenting on the Gujarat plant, Nakanishi said, "We have entered into an agreement for land at Mehsana, in Gujarat. The Gujarat plant will commence production only after we reach full capacity at our Manesar plant (1.8 million).

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08 February, 2012 Following its tie-up with Maruti Suzuki to supply engines, Fiat India Automobiles Ltd (FIAL), a JV between Fiat and Tata Motors, today said it will achieve 100 per cent capacity utilisation at its manufacturing facility at Ranjangaon, near Pune.
The plant is utilising 70 per cent of the capacity, said Piyush Lall, Assistant GM, Fiat Brands - Tata Motors.
It manufactures Fiat’s 1.3 litre MultiJet diesel engines and 1.2 and 1.4 litre FIRE gasoline engines.
The facility has capacity to produce 1,00,000 cars and 3,50,000 engines, besides 3,00,000 parts and accessories. Some Tata passenger car variants too are made there.
"The recent agreement with Maruti would definitely take plant capacity forward and Tata motors also plans to produce more cars from here. This calendar year the capacity is fully utilised," Lall told reporters at the launch of Linea and Punto 2012 versions in Andhra Pradesh market.
According to the MoU with Suzuki, FIAL will supply up to one lakh 1.3 litre MultiJet 75hp SDE engines a year to Maruti Suzuki, starting January, 2012, for three years.
The engine will be installed on Suzuki-branded vehicles produced in India for the local market. Lall said FIAL sold 18,000 units last year. This year it expects to sell 20,000 units.
While Punto is priced in the range of 4.89 lakh to Rs 6.92 lakh (ex-showroom, Hyderabad), the Linea range is priced between Rs 6.92 lakh and Rs 9.32 lakh.

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19 October, 2011 Maruti Suzuki India on Tuesday admitted that the company needs to learn how to deal with a young workforce as it grapples with frequent labour issues at its Manesar plant.
The company, which has witnessed three prolonged labour issues at the plant this year, including the ongoing strike, also blamed inexperienced workers for the trouble, saying they need to “have some respect for law”.
“When you look at this entire situation, then we admit (there is a need) for us to bring in adaptability in a young population that is very, very young,” Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Managing Executive Officer (Administration) S Y Siddiqui told reporters on the sidelines of a CII HR Summit in New Delhi.
He said the average age of the Manesar plant workers is roughly about 24-25 years.
“I think somewhere some learning for us also (is required) on how to deal with the young people... In that sense, maybe some more education should have been there from our side,” Siddiqui added.
Admitting that with better understanding, the gaps could have been addressed earlier, he said: “Perhaps, going forward... (the emphasis will be) on more education of workers. It is a question of how you create an environment and how you adapt to it. It is a two-way process.”
He, however, said the young workers are also equally responsible for the ongoing problems. Siddiqui said out of a total employee population of 9,100 people in MSI, “We have a specific problem with 1,500 people.”
“I think definitely, it must be somewhere more from the side of the young inexperienced workers and I think it is typically a question of capability to adjust and adapt and have some respect for law,” he said.
The first labour strike at MSI”s Manesar plant in June this year lasted for 13 days. This was followed by a 33-day-long standoff from August 29-October 1. The latest strike broke out on October 7.
The workers have demanded recognition of their union, the Maruti Suzuki Employees Union, which was rejected by the management. They are also demanding the reinstatement of 1,200 casual workers and all permanent workers dismissed or suspended during the different stirs.

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20 October, 2011 Maruti Suzuki’s ongoing workers’ strike continued to plague its operations with only 1,850 cars produced at its twin Gurgaon-Manesar plants on Wednesday that normally rolls out over 4,000 cars daily.
The carmaker enhanced its workforce at the strike-torn Manesar plant to 600 on the 13th day of the strike from Tuesday’s 400, even as the different round of negotiations with workers failed to reach any solution.
There is a possibility of a late-night or an early morning agreement between Maruti Suzuki India and its workers, who are on strike for the past 13 days, according to company sources. With the company softening its stand on the issue of re-instating the casual workforce and taking back causal workers in phases and also re-instate few of the sacked or suspended employees, the production might resume to its normal level.
The company is trying hard to ramp up production of its popular hatchback Swift at its Gurgaon and Manesar plants. It managed to manufacture 300 Swifts on Wednesday and is looking at reaching the level of at least 1,000 cars a day to clear the huge backlog of bookings with over a lakh customers waiting for delivery of this car across India.
The company continued its aims to normalise production at its Gurgaon manufacturing hub where 1,650 cars were produced on Wednesday against the daily normal production of 2,800 cars. Efforts are also being made to normalise production at the component company, Suzuki Powertrain India Ltd (SPIL), where workers are also on strike in support of colleagues at Maruti’s car plant at Manesar. SPIL supplies diesel engines and transmissions to Maruti Suzuki.

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21 October, 2011 The 14-day-long strike at Maruti Suzuki India’s Manesar plant has been called off this morning following a tripartite agreement between the management, workers and the Haryana Government.
As part of the agreement, the management has agreed to take back 64 permanent workers but another 30 will remain suspended. It has also been agreed that around 1,200 casual workers would also be reinstated, sources privy to the talks said.
Setting up of two committees for grievance rederssal and labour welfare was also agreed in order to provide a harmonious working environment at the plant. The agreement came at the end of several rounds of talks, since Wednesday in the presence of senior officials of the Haryana government.
Before reaching the agreement, it is understood that MSI management individually considered the cases of all employees against whom disciplinary action had been taken and evaluated the severity of indiscipline in each case.
Wherever the charges were not serious, the sources said, MSI management decided to take back the employees. The agreement provides that 64 employees will be taken back, they said. “However, in case of another 30 employees, the charges were found to be of serious nature. The agreement provides that these employees are suspended,” a source said.
As far as the casual workers are concerned, the MSI agreed to take them back to meet requirements of the ongoing expansion at the Manesar plant.
Workers at the plant have been on strike since October 7 demanding reinstatement of about 1,200 casual workers and 44 permenant workers who have been suspended following an agreement signed on October 1 to end a 33-day-long standoff, along with 50 workers who have been dismissed or suspended during the current stir. As per the agreement, workers will face no work, no pay for the duration of the strike.
The agreement also provides for the setting up of a ‘Labour Welfare Committee’ to promote measures for good relations between the management and workers. The committee will comprise members from the management as well as workers. It is understood that the company has also agreed to arrange for transport services for workers in line with shift timings.
Workers at Suzuki Powertrain India Ltd (SPIL) and Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd (SMIPL) who had also gone on strike from October 7 in support of their colleagues at Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) have also agreed to call off their strike. The company said it produced 1,997 vehicles at the Gurgaon and Manesar facilities on Thursday with the Manesar plant rolling out 200 cars with 600 workers on duty.
MSI board will be meeting on October 29 to consider among other things, a proposal for setting up of a new plant in Gujarat.

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19 October, 2011 Maruti, which is synonymous with Haryana and Gurgaon, is looking outside the state to set up its operations. The continuing labour unrest at its Manesar and Gurgaon plants appear to have hastened its search, and the company is zeroing in on Gujarat.
Sources say the Japanese automaker, frustrated over the repeated interruptions in production due to labour problems at Manesar, wants to quickly finalize its expansion plans beyond Haryana, something that’s not liked by the state government but is seen as "urgent" by the company’s management.
Already, Maruti car sales have been affected, and more worryingly for the firm, the demand seems to have been hit because of the uncertainty about delivery schedules, making the management of the country’s biggest car-maker rather anxious.
While Suzuki chairman Osamu Suzuki met Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on September 8-after the collapse of the first peace agreement and in between the second labour strike-the company’s board looks set to approve the proposal to invest Rs 18,000 crore, including Rs 6,000 crore by auto ancillaries, in Gujarat for a plant spread over 1,000 acres and with a capacity of two million units.
Interestingly, this will be the largest factory site for Suzuki globally, bigger than the combined size of its existing sites at Gurgaon and Manesar. The new facility in Gujarat will mark the beginning of a slow shift out of Haryana-a move that could affect not just the automobile hub in Delhi’s neighbourhood but also impact real estate activity in and around Gurgaon. Already, several automakers, ranging from Tata Motors to Ford and Peugeot-Citreon, have started work on setting up facilities in Gujarat, which is emerging as a major auto hub in the country.
For Haryana, this will be the second blow after Japanese auto major Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India decided to set up plants in Rajasthan and Karnataka following major labour unrest at its Manesar facility. The production loss to Maruti Suzuki due to the three strikes, including the current one which has already lasted 12 days, has been over 60,000 units, resulting in a production loss of a Rs 1,800 crore. In the June quarter, Maruti’s total income was estimated at Rs 8,500 crore, while the profit was Rs 550 crore.
If the Gujarat proposal goes ahead, the production from the site at Becharji in Mehsana is expected to start by 2015. In the first phase, which will be completed by 2020, a capacity for one million units will be build. The next phase of expansion will follow.

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19 October, 2011 Maruti Suzuki has begun production of its best-selling ‘Swift’ hatchback from its strike-crippled Manesar plant in Haryana, the company said on Tuesday. The carmaker rolled out 350 units of ‘Swift’ from the plant that was shut for 10 days following a sit-in protest by employees demanding reinstatement of 1,100 casual workers. Workers had started moving out of the factory on Friday following a court order, which enabled Maruti to resume partial production at the plant on Monday.
“The entire focus is to get the production normalised. We have over one lakh Swift customers waiting and we want to deliver the cars as soon as possible,” a company official said. Between the Gurgaon and the Manesar plants, the company produced 480 Swift cars on Tuesday.
The Gurgaon plants were able to raise output by 50 units to 1,750 vehicles, against its capacity of 2,800 cars a day. Production at the plants was affected due restricted supply of diesel engines and transmission from Suzuki Powertrain India, an affiliate.
Three strikes at carmaker since June have cost it a production loss of about 60,000 cars. The company held two more rounds of talks with the agitating workers on Tuesday. “There was a round of meeting in the morning and one in the evening. There are positive signs from the negotiations, but it”s too early to comment which way the talks end,’ people close to the development said.
The company has a booking order of over 110,000 Swift cars. Low production has pushed its waiting period to five to six months.
On Tuesday, Maruti strengthened the workforce at its Manesar plant to 400 and said it had repaired and made operational the weld and press shops it claimed were damaged by workers. Partial production has also started at Suzuki Powertrain, whose employees had joined the stir in support.
The carmaker produces its ‘Swift’ and A-Star hatchbacks and the SX4 sedan at Manesar, while its Gurgaon plants bring out the Alto, Swift DZire, Wagon-R, Eeco and Ritz models.
People close to the development said Suzuki Powertrain has started hiring fresh workforce to ramp up supplies to Maruti. The company’s board has sought a report on the labour unrest and will review its findings at a meeting later this month.

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19 October, 2011 Bookings of cars manufactured by Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) have witnessed a modest rise following the strike at Maruti’s Manesar plant and reduction in production volumes at Gurgaon unit.
“Bookings of Hyundai’s cars have increased to some extent”, R Sethuraman, Sr VP (finance & corporate affairs) of HMIL told reporters, when asked whether the strike at Maruti had helped the company in getting higher bookings.
To a similar query, he said that Hyundai’s market share might rise due to the problem at Maruti.
Launching Hyundai Eon in Kolkota on Tuesday, he said that the company was targeting to sell 1.5 lakh units a year.
Sethuraman said that the production capacity at the Chennai plants would be increased from 6.3 lakh to 6.7 lakh per annum to meet the demand.
He said the company is expected to grow by 10 per cent this fiscal, although there had been a slowdown in industry-wide sales due to rising interest rates and high fuel prices.
With a present market share of 18.3 per cent, the company is targeting a market share of 20 per cent by the end of the financial year.
Country’s second largest car manufacturer after Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai was the biggest exporter of cars from India to 115 countries.

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20 October, 2011 The Centre on Wednesday asked the Haryana government to take steps to ensure that the strike at the Manesar plant of Maruti Suzuki India ends soon and ruled out making a direct intervention.
"The state government has the jurisdiction. They have to act. Not the central government," Union Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters, a day after negotiations between workers and company management broke down.
Replying to questions on the central government’s role in ending the strike at the plant of the country’s largest car maker that entered into 13th day today, the Minister said the responsibility to implement the labour laws rests with the state government.
"Labour department, according to Constitution, is in the concurrent list...which means both the Centre and state governments can enact laws. Whatever law we enact, even their implementation is done by the state government," he said on the sidelines of a function at New Delhi.
The workers have been on strike, demanding reinstatement of about 1,200 casual workers. They are also demanding that the 44 permanent workers, who were suspended after a settlement agreement signed on October 1 to end a 33-day-long standoff, are taken back.
Workers at Suzuki Powertrain India Ltd ( SPIL) and Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd (SMIPL) have also gone on strike in support of their colleagues at MSI’s Manesar plant.

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29 September, 2011 A fresh round of talks to end the month-long unrest at the Manesar plant of Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest carmaker, remained inconclusive on Wednesday.
The negotiations between the company and the representatives of Gurgaon plant-based Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union (MUKU) and workers of the Manesar unit yielded little result, triggering the possibility of fresh industrial protests in the region.
Union workers at the Gurgaon plant said they were still working with the Maruti management to resolve the crisis. “We have had several rounds of talks, but the issue is struck on the reinstatement of all the 62 sacked workers. While Maruti has agreed to take back 18 trainee workers and may convert the status of some dismissed workers to suspension, we are expecting some positive outcome from the negotiations,” MUKU general secretary Kuldeep said.
“We would decide our course of action in a day or two as we are still hopeful of some positive outcome from the current round of negotiations,” said Rajesh Kumar, general secretary of Suzuki Powertrain India Employees Union, though he did not rule out a flash protest in a day or two if the standoff continues.

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29 September, 2011 Car maker Maruti Suzuki India on Wednesday said it has started the second shift production at the second unit inside the Manesar facility even as talks between the management and workers’ representatives to end the month-long impasse remained inconclusive.
The discussion between senior company officials and the recognised workers’ body Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union (MUKU), which is negotiating on behalf of the Manesar plant employees, failed yesterday as workers continued to press for taking back all 62 dismissed and suspended people that the management refused.
“The management had accepted to take back 18 employees, while it decided to take disciplinary actions against the rest. However, the workers are demanding to take back all of them and that cannot happen,” a source close to the development told PTI.
With the management refusing to hold direct talks with the Manesar plant workers, whose demand for recognising a new body Maruti Suzuki Employees Union (MSEU) has been rejected, the workers had authorised MUKU to negotiate on their behalf.
The company has so far dismissed 33 workers and suspended 29 on charges of sabotage and deliberate quality compromise. In the meantime, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) on Wednesday held a protest rally in front of the plant in solidarity with agitators.
Meanwhile, MSI said it has started the ‘B’ shift at the second plant at Manesar on Wednesday.
“The company has also started production of A-Star at Manesar plants today. This is in line with the company’s decision to further scale up production and resume manufacturing other models also at Manesar plants,” it added. Day before yesterday, it resumed production of sedan SX4 at the unit. The company also rolled out 700 units of its hatchback Swift on Wednesday. “This takes the cumulative Swift production since August 31, 2011, to over 10,000 units,” it added.
The deadlock between MSI management and workers of the Manesar plant has been continuing since August 29, when the company prevented them from entering the factory premises unless they signed a ‘good conduct’ bond, following alleged sabotage and deliberate compromise on the quality of cars being produced.

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30 September, 2011 The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Thursday said it aims to double its sales network by 2015 across India with a focus on small towns and cities.
MSI on Thursday announced opening of its 1,000th sales showroom for its products in Surat, Gujarat, as a part of the strategy to expand into tier-II and tier-III cities across the country.
“Network expansion is strategic to our business and we would continue to focus on it. We target to double our sales network in next five years, in line with the company’s sales plan,” MSI Managing Director and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi said in a statement.
Besides the plan to increase the number of car outlets, the company has also undertaken an initiative of upgrading its three year old showrooms under project ‘Nav Nirman’.
“The objective of ‘Nav Nirman’ is to provide customers uniform buying experience across the country,” it added.
Meanwhile, the company which is facing labour unrest at its Manesar plant, said it has rolled out 690 Swift cars combined from Gurgaon and Manesar facilities today.
It also produced 60 units of A-star and SX4 models from Manesar plants.
“In the last two days, in addition to Swift, the company has also started making these two models at Manesar where focus until now remained on attaining normal production levels for Swift model,” the company said in a separate statement.
Currently, there are 1,500 people available for production at Manesar plants. This includes 1,120 experienced and trained technicians brought in by the company in the last few days, it added.

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21 September, 2011 Striking workers at the Manesar plant refused to hold negotiations with the Maruti Suzuki management on Tuesday, prompting a state government mediator to blame them for the breakdown of peace talks.
Haryana labour minister SCL Sharma, who was mediating on behalf of the state government, said, “The workers are not agreeing to come back to work unless all their 62 colleagues, who were suspended, were taken back. All this is difficult as criminal cases have been lodged against many of them.”
The state government also released three leaders of the Maruti Suzuki Employees Union in an effort to end the 23-day-old industrial stir that has dented Haryana’s image as a peaceful investment destination. The MSI management and workers have been locked in a stand-off since August 29, when the management prevented workers from entering the factory premises unless they signed a good conduct bond.
On Tuesday, the workers at the Manesar plant submitted a petition to Gurgaon deputy commissioner PC Meena, seeking his help in resolving the ongoing crisis. A meeting of the joint action committee, an apex body of all workers’ unions in the Manesar-Gurgaon belt, will be held on Wednesday to chalk out the future course of action, said people close to the unions. The union leaders released on bail included president Sonu Gujjar and general secretary Shiv Kumar.
Meanwhile, Maruti rolled out 620 Swifts at the Manesar and Gurgaon plants on Tuesday, up from a day earlier and close to its targeted level. The country’s top carmaker said about 1,100 people were working on the production line at Manesar, where two plants are operating currently. The workforce included supervisors, engineers and trained hands brought in from the Gurgaon plant, which is functioning normally.

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