Vitara Brezza: Engineered for Global Markets, MADE IN INDIA
For the first time all
decisions and judgements in the development of the product were taken in-house
at Maruti. Suzuki did not participate.
The Vitara Brezza is going
to be a major milestone for Maruti Suzuki, as the locally developed ve hicle
will be sold abroad as well, showcasing the technological capabilities of the
nation's top car maker.
The compact SUV is the
first vehicle to be conceived, designed, developed and validated in India by
Maruti. It will be unveiled at next month's Auto Expo in Greater Noida.
“Vitara Brezza was given as
a challenge to the Indian R&D team,“ Executive Director for Engineering CV
Raman said. “It is engineered for global markets, and will be exported to
related markets in South Asia.“
An R&D team led by
Raman started work on the Vitara Brezza in 2012. The project was completed over
a period of three and a half years. The company has so far depended on Suzuki
Motor Corp (SMC) for the development of products. It is now developing a
vehicle completely on its own is significant also as it not only reflects the
maturity of Maruti Suzuki's R&D capabilities, but the growing importance of
it in the Japanese parent's global operations as well.
“Historically, we have
contributed to vehicle development processes at Suzuki. But this is the first
time that all decisions and judgements during the development of the product
were taken in-house at Maruti. Suzuki did not participate... It was a tremendous
learning experience and has enhanced significantly our capability and our role
in global product development in SMC,“ Raman said. Globally, Suzuki is
committed to bring in 20 new models by 2020. At least 15 of these (excluding
refreshed and upgraded versions of existing models) are expected to be in
India. SMC and Maruti complementing each other's capabilities in R&D will
help step up pace of product launches. According to the plans, Maruti would
design and develop on Suzuki platforms and engines products specific to India
and related markets. The Vitara Brezza has also been developed on an SMC
platform.
In India, Maruti has a
target to sell two million vehicles by the end of the decade. Its R&D
centre at Rohtak in Haryana will play a crucial role in fast-tracking model
development, testing and validation. “Brezza is an important milestone (in
developing R&D capability). For the first time, except for two tests (the
long-term endurance rust test and the wind-tunnel test facilities for which
are not available in India), the entire validation and testing were done
utilising the crash lab and the tracks at Rohtak. It will help us introduce
products and upgrades at a faster pace in the Indian market, “ Raman said.
Maruti started developing
in-house engineer ing capability with facelift of models like the Zen, Alto,
WagonR and the Omni with support of the parent in 2000. Three years on, it
started training its engineers at Suzuki's headquar ters in Japan and initiated
co-design work with SMC for the design and development of the Swift hatchback
for global markets.
In 2008, Maruti started
working on a full mod el change for the top seller Alto. The vehicle was
launched in India in 2012. In 2010, the company started working with SMC on
global models like the Baleno premium hatchback, Ciaz mid-size se dan and the S
Cross cross-over utility vehicle, which were recently launched in India.
The company started work on
the Vitara Brezza as the first model to be designed and developed with Maruti
as the lead for development, in parallel with other global model development
work plan with SMC in 2012.`
Sharmistha Mukherjee ET23JAN16
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