Maruti Suzuki moves A-star for Europe on Railway Auto Wagons

Company Brief

New Delhi, December 26, 2008

Maruti Suzuki India Limited, the country’s leading car maker, made a historic beginning towards becoming an export hub of small cars as it kick-started the dispatch of A-star for Europe from Gurgaon railway station in a specially designed Auto Wagon Railway Rake.

Mr. R K Rao, Member Mechanical, Indian Railway Board, and Mr. M M Singh, Managing Executive Officer (Production), Maruti Suzuki India Limited, flagged off the railway carrier with the first export consignment of A-star, the recently launched Suzuki world strategic model, for Mundra Port in Gujarat.

On the occasion, Mr. M M Singh said, “The dispatch of the first consignment of A-star from Gurgaon is a quantum leap for Maruti Suzuki towards our future as a small car manufacturing hub for Suzuki, Japan. A majority of this export will comprise the newly launched A-Star for Europe. The A-star cars will be sold under Suzuki Alto brand in Europe. Maruti Suzuki has invested in a new port and a dedicated car-handling facility at Mundra. We have signed a long term agreement with MPSEZL (Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone Limited) for this purpose.”

Earlier, Maruti Suzuki had announced to scale up the export of its existing models to one lakh units. The company will export large volumes of A-star to European markets beginning 2009. Suzuki has chosen India as an exclusive base for manufacturing and export of A-star to all major European markets.

The dispatch of the first consignment of A-Star cars by Auto Wagon Railway Rake is a revolutionary event for the country’s automotive logistics and a step towards putting in the required infrastructure for large-scale automobile exports from India.

Until now, Maruti Suzuki has transported over 2 lakh cars by Rail mode in NMG (New Modified Goods) rakes developed in-house by Indian Railways. In addition, the company has been extensively deploying road carriers for transportation of cars.

However, Maruti Suzuki felt that in order to facilitate a smooth export of a large volume of cars, a next-generation automobile transport mechanism was needed that not only ensured increased safety, but also offered operational cost efficiencies. The company believes these factors are critical to maintain cost competencies in export markets and succeed as an export hub.

The Auto Wagons will add up to Maruti Suzuki’s capacity to handle large scale transportation of cars. “We intend to use these Auto Wagon rakes for transportation of A-star and other models to Mundra port as well as other destinations for domestic market. Besides, smooth and cost effective logistics, we will also be contributing significantly to de-congestion of country’s roads”, Mr. Singh added.

The Indian Railways has developed two Auto Wagon rakes, each consisting of 45 wagons. Each wagon is a double deck covered structure, built on container flat deck carriage and has a capacity of six compact cars. A railway rake, with 45 such bogies has a total capacity of 270 cars.

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