[johannskaria]

Carnation Corporation's Jagdish Khattar (former M.D of Maruti Udyog Limited. & former IAS officer) shares one of the five stories that shaped his life. An interesting one.

Love thy stranger

The first labour strike Maruti suffered, in 2000, was crippling. And we found ourselves tied in chains because of the political hues it quickly acquired. Former Prime Ministers V P Singh and Chandrasekhar seen promising support to the union.

I finally decided to call in a favour from Brijesh Mishra, Prime Minister A B Vajpayee's internal security advisor and Principal Secretary. A few months ago, Mishra had called me on the phone. "Do you remember me, Jagdish?" he asked. "Of course", I said, trying to recall if we had met. "Who does not know you, Sir"? "No, no, not in that way," he said.

"Remember we met in your office some years ago?" And then it came to me. When there was a long waiting list for Maruti cars, he had come to me for a "priority allotment". I was director, marketing. Mishra had retired from foreign service and was quite apprehensive about how I would receive him.

I offered him a cup of tea, made polite conversation, and gave him a letter of "priority allotment" right away. He had not forgotten it. That day on the phone, he wanted some sundry information, and rounded off the call by saying that I should contact him whenever I wanted to.

It was not long before I was knocking on the PMO's doors, requesting Mishra's help. He was more than willing to help, and I believe it turned the course of the strike and of Maruti. So do not stop at loving thy neighbour.

Economic Times

[GTO]

Here's another bit of trivia from the late eighties / early nineties. Driving pleasure - as we know it - had to be derived from slow, small cars.

Those of us who started driving then didn't have the 100 BHP rides that are so commonplace today. Whenever we'd come across a nice highway road in the Premier Padmini, we'd be like 'Gosh, this road deserves a better car'. Sure enough, the next time we hit that same highway, it would be in a Maruti 800. With superior acceleration, handling & ergonomics, it felt like the best drive in the world (remember, we jumped there from a Padmini).

How the world has moved on. Then, even with a car that had <40 horses under the hood, we were smiling. Today, some cars with 90 BHP are called 'not fast enough'.

[himanshugoswami]

circa mid eighties- the benchmark of the "grunt" of a fiat or amby Mark IV engine was as follows- approach a flyover at 50 kph and see if it can cross 80 KPH by the time you reach the crest. suffice to say few fiats and ambys managed that feat. if you had one that could, you were the neighbourhood rockstar

[GTO]

Originally Posted by himanshugoswami

circa mid eighties- the benchmark of the "grunt" of a fiat or amby Mark IV engine was as follows

Ha ha, good one!

Speaking of engines, I remember the time that the Contessa came out with that silky smooth 88 BHP Isuzu petrol. It was such a special car for its time. Nice cockpit, chilly air-con, smooth (but long) gearshift and revv happy engine. Sure was an occasion every time you drove one. Bragging rights: Used to do 80 kph (or was it 90) in 2nd gear?!

The driveshafts were damn weak though. I've broken two after aggressive launches.

[GTO]

Economic Times has compiled some interesting trivia based off sales numbers - Link.

[Vigkey]

Originally Posted by GTO

Economic Times has compiled some interesting trivia based off sales numbers

Thats really interesting GTO. For the convenience of readers, I am quoting the main points from the article in bullets here

• Eight out of ten bikes sold is either from Hero, Honda or Bajaj
• One in every two scooters sold is a Honda Activa
• Out of ten Renault sold in India, 9 are Dusters
• The number of vehicle Fiat sells in a year, Maruti sells in just three days
• Two Maruti Suzuki cars are sold every minute
• One two-wheeler comes out of the production line every two seconds in India
• 13 models from three manufacturers use the same 1.3L multijet diesel engine from Fiat
• From one car made for 3186 people in India in 1995, we now have 481 people for that one car
• One out of every 2 three-wheeler passenger carrier is a Bajaj
• Contrary to huge growth rate seen in the scooter segment in the last few quarters in the long-term scooter sales grew only 4.5 times since 1995 compared to 17.3 times surge in motorcycles sales in India

Regarding the models selling with Fiat's 1.3L Multijet, I can think of 4 (excluding GM) Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Fiat and Premier and still I could get only 13 models - Punto, Linea, Avventura, Ritz, Swift, Dzire, Ciaz, Ertiga, Vista, Manza, Bolt, Zest and Rio. Looks like ET included Linea Classic as a separate car

Amazed to find out that over 50% of scooters sold in India are Activas - so much for brand pull.

[schakravarthy]

Originally Posted by Vigkey

Regarding the models selling with Fiat's 1.3L Multijet, I can think of 4 (excluding GM) Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Fiat and Premier and still I could get only 13 models - Punto, Linea, Avventura, Ritz, Swift, Dzire, Ciaz, Ertiga, Vista, Manza, Bolt, Zest and Rio. Looks like ET included Linea Classic as a separate car

You left out SX4.

[Vigkey]

Originally Posted by schakravarthy

You left out SX4.

Well sir, SX4 is not sold currently in India and S-Cross is yet to be launched. That is the reason why I have left them. Pretty sure I have not left any cars currently being sold

However, we can also include the GM cars like Beat, Sail UVA, Sail and Enjoy as they too use the same engine - but it is not supplied by Fiat. I guess GM themselves manufacture them. The point is Fiat and GM jointly developed the engine but Fiat is the primary supplier of the engines.

[schakravarthy]

Originally Posted by Vigkey

Well sir, SX4 is not sold currently in India and S-Cross is yet to be launched. That is the reason why I have left them. Pretty sure I have not left any cars currently being sold

However, we can also include the GM cars like Beat, Sail UVA, Sail and Enjoy as they too use the same engine - but it is not supplied by Fiat. I guess GM themselves manufacture them. The point is Fiat and GM jointly developed the engine but Fiat is the primary supplier of the engines.

Well, the article just says "13 models from 3 manufacturers"; doesn't mention anything about current models or otherwise. Hence, I added SX4.

[GTO]

Genius Srivastava shares an interesting titbit of his Maruti interview

In 1997, Maruti was making its first lateral hires. One of the candidates was Rakesh Srivastava from cigarette maker GTC Industries. "How will you make the transition to cars?" asked Jagdish Khattar, Maruti's Managing Director at the time.

"There is only one difference," recalls Srivastava as replying. "Now I have to worry about smoke coming out front; if I join Maruti I will have to worry about the smoke coming out from the back."

He got the job.

Source & Full Article

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by saket77

The 5 Speed MPFi version of the M800 was launched during the first half of 2000. IIRC, in February 2000. So, to answer your question, yes, it was launched after the Indica. Also, not only the DX version, but probably all versions of the 800 were shot with the 5 speed gearbox and MPFi engines. MPFi engines were plonked in to comply with mandatory Euro norms. And that 800 was a hoot to drive car.

5 Speed MPFI 800 came only in EX and DX versions. And my 800 was bought on 25th March 2000. I am pretty sure when dad had changed his booking to EX in Jan, there was no talk of 5 Speed anywhere. It all came in end January or Feb 2000. However I must mention here that the tyres on my 800 had Dec 99 markings whereas the toolkit also had Dec99 printed on it. I remember seeing in some document that my car was manufactured in early Feb 2000(don't remember the exact date).
Only EX and DX versions had 5 Speed GB along with 12 Valve engine, while the Std variant continued in Euro I form with the 6V carburetor Engine and 4 Speed GB .

Originally Posted by saket77

Also, in addition I think the EX & DX versions had improved rear suspension from the Std model. The rear suspension was probably derived from the other hot hatch and Maruti Sibling, ZEN.

Yes, the EX and DX had factory fitted coil spring suspension and radial tyres whereas Std came with leaf spring suspension and cross ply tyres. Not sure of the origin of suspension, but I would like to believe that it was Zen because Alto wasn't launched till September 2000, whereas DX had coil spring suspension from many years.

Originally Posted by GTO

The 5-speed Maruti 800 MPFi was then the sole car whose needle could exceed the max speedometer marking. Someone had once done it on the ARAI track & uploaded a picture somewhere.

Woah!! Never knew this fact. Thanks for the info Sir.
I happen to own a 5 Speed DX and my respect for the car has increased many times. It surely is one peppy and FTD go-kart!!


Regards

[Gannu_1]

Not sure if this was mentioned here before. Stumbled upon this one from Sandeep (thanks to him!):

Originally Posted by sandeepmdas

A trivial fact is Mahindra & Mahindra was founded as Mahindra & Mohammad and when Ghulam Mohammed, one of the founders of the company emigrated to Pakistan in 1947, Mahindra & Mohammed became Mahindra & Mahindra.

Mahindra has shared this in their History page as well:

[GTO]

Ashok Advani - promoter of Auto India (a big car mag from the 90s) - was arrested in 2004.

Nice Article from Rediff.com

Pioneering publisher Ashok Advani has been battling to save his magazine empire for years. Will he now have to do it from behind bars?

The last time a prominent Indian publisher went to jail was more than 40 years ago, when Shanti Prasad Jain of Bennett, Coleman & Co. was arrested on a variety of charges.

Ashok H Advani of Business India is not in the same league, being no more than the publisher of some niche magazines, whereas Jain not only ran the country's largest media company but also a vast business empire spanning everything from banking to cement and jute.

[gixxerboy]

Sourcing its power from a 1489cc, BMW B-Series diesel engine, the Ambassador was the first diesel car in India.

http://www.digplanet.com/wiki/Hindustan_Ambassador

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by GTO

The 5-speed Maruti 800 MPFi was then the sole car whose needle could exceed the max speedometer marking. Someone had once done it on the ARAI track & uploaded a picture somewhere.

A picture is worth thousand words.



Special thanks to Autocar India, who on my request went out of their way and provided me this image. All this for a childish desire of an enthusiast.

Regards,
Shashi