After months of speculations in the Indian automobile industry and ongoing talks between the Italian car manufacturer Fiat and the Japanese major Suzuki, the two have finally entered into an agreement wherein Fiat will supply 1,00,000 diesel engines annually to Maruti Suzuki, Suzuki’s Indian subsidiary for three years starting January 2012. Maruti Suzuki, the largest automaker in India, will now be able to boost the production of its hatchback Swift which has more than 1,10,000 bookings pending in India.
The engine in consideration is the Fiat’s 1.3 liter multijet engine used by Maruti Suzuki for the Swift. The company is expected to increase production of the car at its Manesar manufacturing facility to clear out the outstanding bookings. As stated by a company official, the increase in production of the Swift will be highest on priority for the company.
The diesel engines will be manufactured at Fiat India Auto‘s Pune plant and the supplies to Maruti Suzuki will commence as soon as possible. With this additional supply, Maruti Suzuki is planning to achieve sales of more than 20,000 units of the Swift hatchback monthly.