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India’s biggest automaker is all set for a major project to take on of launching 15-20 new vehicles in five years. To remain competitive in the market, the automaker will continue to focus more on low-cost vehicles with 70-80% of its upcoming offerings are possibly to be in small car segments. It will include mostly facelifts and variants.

Out of the planned vehicles, five are already in the advanced stages of development. The company probably may roll out sub-4 meter Swift Dzire at the Auto Expo2012 in Delhi. It will be followed by a multi-purpose vehicle based on the R-III concept, an A Star facelift, next gen Alto 800 and Ritz backlift by early 2013.

The company is set to invest around Rs 1,000- 1,500 crore on these product developments along with its future R and amp: D unit at Rohtak in coming 3-5 years. The Rohtak facility will be functional by early 2014. A dedicated R&D wing will lower the cost of development and enable aggressive costing said the industry experts.

People having information on this matter told, “With product lifecycles getting shorter, it is absolutely critical for companies to introduce newer and fresher products. New products pull customers and Maruti is responding to that.” Currently the company is working on the upcoming product portfolio strategy with its head office in Japan.

Declining the rumors about the number of future products, I V Rao, Chief executive, research and development, Maruti Suzuki said, “The contribution of Indian engineers will be drastically higher going ahead. They are not only involved in the model development for India but also for global projects. With the dynamic market environment in India, where customer expectations and competitive scenario continuously change, we will be in a much better position to react in the future.”

Suzuki has also decided on unifying the R&D in Japan with its Indian subordinates and following to it, India will play a major role in product development.

Rakesh Batra, partner and national director, automotive, Ernst & Young said, “Protecting its market share will be the biggest challenge for Maruti Suzuki. It will have to offer appealing vehicles, which are comparable to competition and that too in a shorter timeframe. The stronger Indian R&D centre with more responsibility will definitely help.”