Maruti plans to enter LCV segment with diesel Eeco or Omni

Maruti Eeco diesel LCV

Country’s leading car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India is planning to enter the Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) market. So far the company has never actively ventured into the commercial vehicles segment apart from a foray into the market using the Omni van which was not very competitive due to the absence of a diesel motor.

As of now, Tata Motors is the unchallenged leader in the light commercial vehicle segment with more than 50% market share. The Tata Ace is the bestselling vehicle in this segment followed by Mahindra Maxximo. And soon they will have a new competitor, and that too in the form Maruti Suzuki India, the largest carmaker in the country.

It is still unclear, if Maruti could develop an all-new platform or use the existing Suzuki pick-up truck platform that is already on-sale in South East Asia. Developing a product platform would definitely require it to incur capital expenditure. Besides this, the company is currently working on the development of a two-cylinder 800 CC diesel engine for the passenger car segment.

Maruti Omni diesel LCV

The company as initiated a project to foray into the light commercial vehicles market; the project has been code named ‘AP’ and if successful could see MSI enter the commercial vehicle segment by 2015-2017. Additionally, the reason why Maruti Suzuki is seen as a threat to the other makers is because with the company has a far wider reach than any if its competitors. And with the brand, comes a name people can trust when it comes to cheaper cost of maintenance and higher fuel efficiencies.
 
( NoteThere is no official confirmation of Maruti Suzuki India planning to enter LCV segment with diesel Eeco or Omni, but we at BharathAutos speculate it to be either Eeco or Omni.)

 

Also see – Spied – GM-Wuling Hongtu which will compete with Maruti Eeco

 

SourceEconomic Times