| At the time of launch, the 1-Series will be offered with with four engine options "� two petrol and two diesel. Surprisingly enough, the most powerful variant will the 120d, a 163-horsepower, 2000cc diesel. |
| Top-line petrol model will be the 120i, which will be powered by a 150 bhp, 2000cc inline-four. BMW are not saying if they'll look at straight-six engines for the 1-series, but we suppose that's inevitable. In fact, a performance-oriented M version is also in the offing, though that's supposed to be a good two years away at least. |
| It might be small, but the 1-series will still boast BMW-spec performance. Again, the 120d is supposed to be the quickest, with a manufacturer-claimed acceleration time of 7.9 seconds for the 0 to 100 kph blast, and a 220 kph top speed. Interested already? |
| Well, no official price announcements have been made, but the 1-series is likely to cost between Rs 12 and 16 lakh when it's launched, and there'll be an extensive options list to hike those numbers even higher. And if you think that's a bit rich for a small car, get this - the European press thinks the 1-series is a car for middle-class housewives. |
| For the record |
| Despite the fact that most Maruti cars are getting on in years, the company seems to be doing exceedingly well. Maruti Udyog Limited has closed the financial year 2003-04 with annual sales of 4,72,122 units, the highest ever since the company began operations 20 years ago. |
| This annual sales figure also includes exports of 51,175 units, which is the highest ever since Maruti began exporting cars in 1988. These figures represent a growth of 30 per cent over sales figures for 2002-03. Maruti's service network also expanded to a landmark 1000 cities and towns during the same period. |
| Maruti's record sales performance marked an eventful year during which the company's Public Issue was oversubscribed 10 times over, making a big success of the Government's Divestment programme. |
| Customer appreciation too, seems to be a high point for the company, with Maruti being ranked first in the J D Power Customer Satisfaction Survey (for the fourth year in succession) and the Wagon R, Zen and Esteem cars topping their categories in the J D Power Initial Quality Study for 2003. |
| Sales of the Alto went up by 130 percent while the revamped Grand Vitara XL-7 continued to notch up sales in the top-end Luxury SUV segment of the Indian car market. Finally, with the new Liana in the pipeline, Maruti Udyog's fortunes should remain on the upswing for the foreseeable future. |
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