Maruti Suzuki has updated its rail and port facilities in India as it is now an export hub for the new A-star/Alto and the Nissan Pixo variant built on an OEM basis.
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The first export shipment of the A-star left Gurgaon railway station in new, specially designed auto wagon railway rakes bound for Mundra Port, flagged off by Indian Railway Board and Maruti Suzuki India officials.
Maruti chief M Singh said: “The dispatch of the first consignment of A-star from Gurgaon is a quantum leap for Maruti Suzuki towards the company’s future as a small car manufacturing hub for Suzuki, Japan.
“The majority of this export will comprise the newly launched A-Star for Europe [where they will be sold under the Suzuki Alto brand].”
He added that Maruti had invested in a new port and dedicated car handling facility at Mundra, in Gujarat, signing a long term agreement with MPSEZL (Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone Limited).
Earlier, Maruti Suzuki had announced plans to boost exports of existing models to 100,000 units a year while simultaneously shipping “large volumes” of the A-star to Europe from this year.
“Suzuki has chosen India as an exclusive base for manufacturing and export of A-star to all major European markets,” Maruti said.
It said the despatch of the first consignment by the new railway rake was also “a revolutionary event for country’s automotive logistics and a step towards putting in place required infrastructure for large scale exports of automobiles from India”.
Until now the automaker has shipped over 200,000 cars by rail mode in NMG (New Modified Goods) rakes developed in-house by Indian Railways. Trucks have also been used.
But to facilitate smooth export of this large volume of cars, a next generation automobile transport mechanism was needed to boost safety and reduce costs.
The new wagons will boost the capacity to handle large scale transportation of cars.
“We intend to use Auto-Wagon rakes for transportation of A-star and other models to Mundra port as well as other destinations for the domestic market. Besides, smooth and cost effective logistics, we will also be contributing significantly to de-congestion of the country’s roads”, added Singh.
Indian Railways has developed two Auto-Wagon rakes, each consisting of 45 wagons. Each individual wagon is a double deck covered structure, built on a container flat deck carriage, which can carry six compact cars. A full rake takes 270 cars.
The two rakes will be available to all Indian automakers.
