Seeking to make a mark in the big car segment, the country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India will open bookings of its upcoming mid-sized sedan Ciaz from today.

Ciaz will be available in petrol and Diesel fuel options powered by a 1.4 litre and 1.3 litre engines respectively.

Shares of Maruti Suzuki were up nearly 3% at Rs 2,864, after hitting a record high of Rs 2,868, amid better-than-expected sales growth in August led by the compact car segment.

Total sales during August 2014 increased 27% to 110,776 units compared to 87,323 units in August 2013.

Car marker leader Maruti Suzuki India is looking at nearly doubling the number of models to 25, including entry into SUV and LCV segments, as it aims a target to sell 3 million cars annually.

The company will launch within a few months an SUV to compete with Renault's Duster, which will be followed by a compact SUV in 2016 to take on segment leader Ford EcoSport, as part of a strategy to be present in newer segments of the passenger vehicle market.

Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) on Tuesday said that they would challenge the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) order that imposed huge penalty on auto companies on Tuesday.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) – the largest utility vehicle maker issued a statement on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) saying, "The company aggrieved by this order proposes to appeal against it before the appropriate forum."

NEW DELHI: Carmakers such as Tata Motors, M&M, and Maruti Suzuki-0.62 % plunged up to 2 per cent in trade on Tuesday, after the Competition Commission of India imposed a combined penalty of over Rs 2,500 crore on 14 carmakers for indulging in unfair practices in the spare parts market.

Tata Motors-0.73 % faces the maximum fine of Rs 1,346 crore, followed by Maruti Suzuki Rs 471 crore, Mahindra & Mahindra Rs 292 crore, General Motors Rs 85 crore, Honda Car India Rs 78 crore.

Tobacco-to-FMCG conglomerate ITC has replaced Tata group's IT giant TCS as the country's most admired company on a Fortune magazine list, which has got as many as 19 new entrants including Cognizant, Birla group firm Idea Cellular and discom BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd. In the latest list for the year 2014, ITC is followed by engineering and infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro (L&T), another FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever, carmaker Maruti Suzuki and public sector bank SBI among the top five most admired companies in India.

Maruti Suzuki on Friday said it would convert all contract workers at its factories in Gurgaon and Manesar to permanent or temporary staff over the next two years.

The process started soon after a violent clash at the company's plant in Manesar in 2012. Training programmes for contract workers have recently been started at the Gurgaon plant.

The country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), is likely to seek minority shareholders’ approval for developing manufacturing facilities in Gujarat through a wholly-owned subsidiary of parent Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) in October.

MSIL Chairman R C Bhargava said, “We haven't yet fixed a date. It could be in October.

After doubling its market share to about 7% in just two years, on the back of diesel models of Amaze and City, Honda is now gearing up for the second leg of its mass market strategy to challenge the supremacy of Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai. The carmaker is developing a 1-litre petrol engine, the smallest in its car range globally, which, it hopes, will help it gain a foothold in the small car segment, which includes the country's top-selling models — Maruti Alto, WagonR, Celerio and Hyundai Eon.

Aiming to maintain leadership in the highly-competitive automotive market, Maruti Suzuki India has unveiled a roadmap for the next 30 years, eyeing sales of three million vehicles annually.

“2013-14 was a significant milestone year for us, as in December we completed 30 years of selling cars. It is a good time to review what we have achieved and what we should do in our next 30 years-Maruti 2.0,” Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Chairman R. C. Bhargava said in the company’s annual report for 2013-14.

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