Not competing with Nano: Maruti Suzuki

New Delhi, Sep 4 (PTI) Automobile major Maruti Suzuki India said on Thursday the company has no plans to enter the Nano car segment or become a competitor to the existing player.

"Maruti has always been in small car segment and we have always concentrated on that category of up to 1200 cc cars.

But Nano is something which is a totally different segment and we are not venturing or competing in that segment," Maruti Suzuki India Chairman and M.D. R.C. Bhargava told reporters on the sidelines of the 48th S.I.A.M. Annual convention here.

On being asked about the decline in the sale of small
cars and four-wheelers, Bhargava said that such kind of
temporary downslide has been faced by the industry earlier.

"It won't take the industry long to recover and the
market to stabilise. Certain external factors like rise in
crude oil prices, the sub-prime crisis and inflationary
pressure has hurt the auto industry just like any other
industry and if the oil price stabilises the entire affect
will mitigate," Bhargava said.

He added that the upcoming festive season would lead to
increase in sale of small cars.

"The festive season has always been a good one for the
industry as sales tend to go up and we expect the same to
happen this year as well," he said.

He refused to accept that sales of Maruti Suzuki cars in
India has declined drastically.

"Maruti 800 and Alto are from the same segment and taken
together the sales of the two cars have not declined
significantly," he said.

Regarding the Singur controversy, Bhargava said one such
case would not make much of a difference "it is very necessary
for an important state like West Bengal to have industries. It
is a pity that they did not go for the Singur project and we
hope that the issue will be sorted out." PTI