Hybrid Cars

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), India’s largest automotive sales brand is said to have been working on an ambitious plan to launch hybrid cars. They are working on electric and CNG (compressed natural gas) technology that would power their future hybrids. The company has planned a broad strategy to develop cars that run on alternate fuel technology.
According to Shinzo Nakanishi, Managing Director of the company, the company is developing electric car technology for Indian sub-continent. This ambition might take around half a decade to be fulfilled.
Chairman R C Bhargava adds that they are working on multi-fuel variants. They also have identified few model for CNG. The current cost for a CNG kit is around Rs 40,000 which is expensive. They plan to launch cheaper version of the same by the year 2010-2011.
Suzuki Motor Corp of Japan, which is the majority shareholder in the company at 54.2%, has already started the R & D in alternate fuel technology. This includes the development of fuel cell technology in collaboration with General Motors Corp, U.S. For the R & D, the company is using the SX4 mid-sized sedan. Though fuel cell technology is not yet confirmed for India, it may be a viable future alternative.
The two main challenges for the company now are-mileage per full battery charge and pricing. They would look for more than 120 km per single charge. This would strengthen their brand value even further. If things go their way, they might have another winner on their hands. Also, the Maruti brand value is an add-on in the country for them.