Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) will be showcasing a new small car at the Delhi Auto Expo in January 2010. The company will start producing the car commercially after gauging customers’ response to its concept model at the Auto Expo. MSIL is currently developing two compact cars – a new version of the WagonR, codenamed YR8, and another small car to fit into the Maruti 800 segment, codenamed YE3. The latter is being developed to fill the void that will be created after the Maruti 800 is phased out. Both the cars will be powered by Maruti’s BS IV compliant KB series engines.
MSIL MD, Mr Shinzo Nakanishi, said that though the company’s engineers have the expertise to upgrade the M800 to meet BS IV norms, the company has decided against it as it will be too expensive and time-consuming. The new car will be the eighth compact car from Maruti’s stable. Mr Nakanishi also said that the company was consolidating its platforms and wanted to bring down their number from the current 8, to 3 in the future.
