Deepesh Rathore
Research Editor
deepesh.rathore@supplierbusiness.com
For more details on how many platforms maruti visit www.theautodiary.com
Automotive reporting done by daily newspapers seems to be getting absurder by the day. Most of our reporting relies on 'getting a byte from some senior executive' and then 'weaving a tall tale around it'. There is very little research, no understanding about the functioning of the industry and simply no respect for facts. One of the leading business dailies today reports on Maruti-Suzuki bringing in the SX4 sedan. Nothing wrong in that and the piece seems to be well written till I reach the following paragraph:
"MUL has also brought in its fourth platform with the introduction of the 1.6 litre SX4 sedan, which is pitted against the Honda City, Hyundai Verna, General Motors's Optra and Ford Motor's Escort. This platform will be the base to introduce all MUL's new bigger cars."
WTF???
Isn't the SX4 Maruti's fifth platform? And Ford Escort? That died about a decade back. A tired, overworked writer or one too lazy to check facts?
It gets better further down the story. The writer further claims:
"MUL currently has three platforms. One is used to manufacture the M- 800 and Swift. The Esteem is manufactured from the second platform, and the Alto, WagonR and Zen Estilo, are manufactured from the third."
Manufacturing the micro-sized 800 (of early 80s vintage) and the sub-compact sized Swift (circa 2005) from the same platform is quite an engineering feat for the writer!
The case seems to be a quote by Maruti's MD, Jagdish Khattar, being lost in translation. What he meant:
"All future models will be based on our three existing platforms," as in the Alto platform, the Swift platform and the SX4 platform. The 800 platform and the Esteem-Versa platform are old ones and will die their natural death.
Yet another business daily reported:
"The new SX4 sedan is the third platform added to the stable of Maruti, with one for cars like for Alto and Zen Estillo and WagonR, and another for Swift."
Ummm, you missed the other models.
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