Maruti Suzuki India Limited, country’s leading car maker makes another historic beginning towards becoming an export hub of small cars as it kick starts the dispatch of A-star, Suzuki world strategic model, from India.
The first consignment of A-star for export left in a specially designed Auto Wagon Railway Rake from Gurgaon railway station. Mr. RK Rao, Member Mechanical, Indian Railway Board and Mr. MM Singh, Managing Executive Officer (Production), Maruti Suzuki India Limited flagged off the railway carrier for Mundra Port.
On the occasion, Mr. MM Singh said, “The dispatch of first consignment of A-star from Gurgaon is a quantum leap for Maruti Suzuki towards company’s future as a small car manufacturing hub for Suzuki, Japan. 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 into a new port and dedicated car handling facility at Mundra port in Gujarat. We have signed a long term agreement with MPSEZL (Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone Limited).”
Earlier, Maruti Suzuki had announced to scale-up the export of its existing models to one lakh units. Simultaneously, Maruti Suzuki 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.
Despatch of the first consignment of A-Star cars by Auto-Wagon Railway Rake is also a revolutionary event for country’s automotive logistics and a step towards putting in place required infrastructure for large scale exports of automobiles 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.
But to facilitate smooth export of this large volume of cars, a next generation automobile transport mechanism was needed that not only ensured increased safety, it also offered operational cost efficiencies, the factors that 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 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”, said Mr. MM Singh.
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 6 compact cars. A railway rake, with 45 such bogies has a total capacity of 270 cars.
