Maruti Gypsy to Lose its biggest Client Indian Army

A bad news came for Maruti Suzuki India from the end of Indian Army. The Indian Army will soon phase out Maruti Suzuki Gypsy. The homegrown Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) along with Japanese Nissan Motor Co are in the queue to replace the legendary Gypsy 4x4 off-roader used by the Indian Army. The bidding for the Indian Army tender will be kick-started once the decision over the technical aspects is given to the standards. Among all, two companies will provide their vehicles by April 15th and the testing will start by the end of April.

Tata India will offer its product on Safari Storme platform, Mahindra's offering is based on the Scorpio, more interestingly Nissan's offering will be based on its X-Trail SUV platform. The selected SUV will alter the Gypsy in a certain time frame from 2017 onwards. Current requirement of Indian Army is 30,000 units worth Rs 3,000 crore that will replace Maruti's Gypsy. Maruti India has already sold over 27,000 units of Gypsy to the Indian Army.

The Army requirement for 'General Service' vehicle is of 800 kg instead of Gypsy which falls in 500 kg category. The Indian Army also asked for Diesel powered vehicles with at least power output of 120bhp along with Bharat Stage (BS) III and BS IV compatiblity.

The SUVs to be offered to Indian Army should have features like AC/HVAC, bucket seats, power windows, central locking, five doors along with safety ingredients such as ABS and airbags. For off-roading purpose, the vehicle should have differential locks, improved gradability (< 25 degrees) and side slope capabilities (< 15 degrees).

This will be the biggest loss for Maruti Suzuki India, as Gypsy is still in production mainly to meet Army needs and clocks in sales of approximately 3000 units every year.

Source : HT Mint

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