In competition to Tata’s small car, for the first time in India, Maruti plans to present the global concept car at the Expo.

While Tata Motors’ is an individual and indigenous venture, Maruti Suzuki India Limited in collaboration with its mother company Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan has developed the Concept A-Star car that will provide a peek into the company’s plans for the global compact cars.

The company has basically developed Concept A-Star for the global markets and soon after its launch at the Auto Expo it will be displayed at all the major Auto Expos around the world.

Tata Motors’ Rs 1-lakh ‘people’s car’ and Maruti’s Concept A-Star car will be among the four global car launches at the Auto Expo scheduled for January 2008.

The two other global launches at next year’s Delhi Auto Expo would be from Bajaj Auto and Mahindra and Mahindra. In all, there will be 24 launches in the week-long Expo, but a majority of them would be different versions of existing models.

A statement issued by Maruti Udyog said that Concept A-Star was developed with a 5-year capital investment of $2.2 billion in a new car plant. In addition, the company has set up a diesel engine manufacturing unit and a new engine series for the new models.

This, the company says, has made Maruti Suzuki a global manufacturing hub for Suzuki operations worldwide. The statement emphasized that the next level of commitment will be evident in R&D, with a vision to make Maruti Suzuki the R&D hub for automobiles in Asia.

The statement further said that Concept A-Star will be manufactured only at Maruti’s plant at Manesar in India and 50,000 units of the vehicle will be sent to Japanese Nissan as per an agreement between Nissan and Suzuki.

In addition, MSIL will also export 1 lakh units of Concept A-Star to Europe and sell 50,000 vehicles in the domestic market. Concept A-Star will join the elite club of concept cars displayed for the first time in India, including Tata Motors’ Indica that was first displayed at the Auto Expo in January 1998 and hit the market a year later.

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