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| A Nano and a Maruti 800 |
Calcutta, July 16: Twenty cars from the Maruti stable will roll from Singur tomorrow — at least one riding the Nano wave.
Carmaker Maruti Suzuki is stepping on the gas in rural Bengal with a Gramin Mahotsav in the birthplace of its Tata rival Nano where keys would be handed over to 20 new owners.
The move comes three months before the Rs 1-lakh small car of the Tatas is due to hit the markets during Durga Puja.
Maruti sources said the keys to be handed over would be of mostly Maruti 800 and Alto. Among the buyers will be Amar Mukherjee, who supplies building material for the Nano project. “Supplying to a project of this scale has augmented my income significantly,” said Mukherjee, whose new Alto will lighten his pocket by at least Rs 2.3 lakh.
But he doesn’t mind. “I am a Maruti loyalist,” he beamed.
The price range for an Alto is Rs 2.3 lakh to Rs 2.8 lakh, while those buying Maruti 800s will have to pay between Rs 1.9 lakh and Rs 2.3 lakh.
Maruti official S.N. Barman said wherever the company organised such events, it was with the co-operation of the gram panchayat. “We also invite key officials like the block development officer and the superintendent of police,” the company’s eastern region business head added.
Maruti sources said over the next nine months, the company expected to sell 2,000 cars in villages of Bengal. Over 90 per cent of them would be Maruti 800s and Alto models.
The Singur “carnival” will be the third in the region after Cooch Behar in April and Jajpur in June, and the 36th so far in the country. The next venue will be Kalyani.
The Maruti rural drive, at a time the Nano project has waded into cost overruns of Rs 300 crore, is reminiscent of the Coke-Pepsi cola war, with each trying to out-fizz the other.
Tata Motors, on its part, had instructed dealers to set up or upgrade showrooms in small towns — like Barasat, Chinsurah, Habra, Krishnagar, Diamond Harbour, Baruipur, Howrah and Uluberia — where the auto major didn’t have a presence in passenger cars.
Maruti has 37 dedicated counters with service facilities in Bengal’s villages and towns and has 200 rural sales executives.