New Delhi, Jan. 6 :    New Delhi, Jan. 6:  Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL), the country's largest car maker, is changing its colours. This time it's turning green - the colour that spells 'youth and freshness'. MUL, which was the first Indian corporate to adopt the Japanese system where everyone from the chief executive down to the lowest toolroom attendant wears the same uniform, has undertaken an elaborate exercise to design a new outfit for its employees. This is the third time that the automaker is changing its colours - from staid grey in 1983 and cool blue in 1993. The new uniform - foliage green trousers and ice-green shirts and jerseys for men, ice-green saris for women - has been designed by the National Institute of Fashion Technology (Nift) and is being dubbed as its 'millennium uniform'. About 4,600 employees of Maruti switched over from their cool-blue outfits to spanking new ice-green uniforms this month. 'At long last, the wait is over. The new uniforms have finally arrived. So all employees can come together to paint Maruti a young and vibrant green,' says an internal note issued to the employees by MUL managing director Jagdish Khattar. 'Maruti enters the new millennium brushing over recent past troubles, turning adversity into strength and impatient to face the new challenges ahead. We have changed for the better and what better way to signify that than by changing the colour of the uniforms!' added the note. The note looks optimistically at 'a fresh new year, a fresh new uniform, and a fresh new energy to face the challenges ahead.....' While Nift was given the job to design the uniform, Oswal Group's OCM has supplied the fabric; the jerseys are being supplied by Mohini Knitwears. A Geneva-based inspection agency SGS Group was asked to test, verify and certify the quality, design and fabric. MUL is 50 per cent owned by Suzuki Motor of Japan. So, it is interesting to note that the green colour in Japan exemplifies the dragon - fearsome and invincible. Company executives were tightlipped about the price paid for the huge colour-change exercise where for the first time all sections of employees were consulted. 'The cost runs into a few crores. But the effort and thinking behind choosing the colour was a unique experience, which we would not like to calculate in terms of money,' said a senior executive. The company executives said green was chosen because it is a fresh colour; different from the usual blue or grey themes that is worn in most industrial concerns. 'We in MUL had the grey and blue themes with different variations to it. With greater environment consciousness and commitment to the ecology, green was the natural choice. Green signifies youth and freshness,' said a senior executive of the company. To choose the millennium uniform, a cross-functional team comprising employees at various levels across the divisions was constituted. 'The committee of employees short-listed two colour themes - one in blue and the other in green. The green theme received overwhelming support from the employees. The directors approved the design, colour and texture,' said a company executive. Nift had proposed six different colour stories or themes ranging from turquoise blue, light olive green, charcoal grey, dark grey, chocolate browns to a lemon yellow. In addition, they offered four different shirt styling, three different trouser styles and four different jacket cuts. Maruti, which had seen its car sales drop early this year before clawing back some of its marketshare, currently estimated at around 55 per cent, is an angry dragon that is starting to breathe fire. The big question: Is there anyone out there who's prepared to twist its tail?