Maruti to hire more local talent for made-in-India car

Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest passenger carmaker, is on a hiring spree keeping in view the plans of the car maker to design cars from scratch in India by the end of 2010.

The car maker plans to get into disciplines such as design, electrical and mechanical engineering as it will be working on a model that is conceived, developed and designed at Maruti by its own engineering team, said a report.

It is being said that the company would bank completely on local talent for the project. The hiring spree is part of its exercise to employ at least 1,000 Indian engineers by 2010. So if you are into automotive engineering or auto design, keep an eye out!

With Suzuki Motors Corporation all set to make its Indian operations the global design centre for Maruti Suzuki small cars, the Indian company  is also looking for a new facility. The company has already applied for land to the Haryana government to set up a state-of-the-art R&D centre as part of a Rs. 9,000 crore expansion plan announced a few years ago. Besides, the company is also lining up a test track, which would have all facilities of the similar track it has at Suzuki Japan.

By 2010, Maruti hopes to export 2 lakh units, as against last year’s 54,000 units. With the company’s design plans going on stream, it is believed that tehcar aker would be equipped for a full model change, designed and manufactured by Indian engineers.

The company’s Indian team would also be building a car from scratch by 2010-11. The car maker is said to have already increased its Indian headcount, by doubling the number of engineers to 560. By 2009, the company would bring in about 740 engineers. The head count would go up to 1,000 engineers by 2010.

The Indian talent has already seen the development of models such as Swift, Dzire and SX4  being successful in various respects. The team has also developed its compact concept car A- Star, which was unveiled at the Auto Expo in Delhi this year.