Maruti Suzuki will launch its premium dealership Nexa on Thursday. Meant for buyers of premium cars, these dealers will only stock the company’s upcoming crossover, the S-Cross, to begin with.

This is the Indian automobile industry’s first experiment with creating a new sales network. The decision to set up Nexa follows the Indian buyers’ preference for more space and better features in cars.

On the expectations that the implementation of the 7th pay commission would give a boost to sale of passenger cars, shares of Maruti Suzuki rose to a record high of Rs 4,191 on Thursday, after foreign brokerage Credit Suisse, on Wenesday, increased the target price by 17% to Rs 5,100. Shares of Maruti Suzuki, on Friday opened lower at Rs 4,174.

The rise in the share price of Maruti Suzuki took its market capitalisation to a level higher than that of competitor Tata Motors.

Shares of Maruti Suzuki India were trading higher by 2% at a life-time high of Rs Rs 4,120, extending their nearly 3% gains in the past two trading sessions on the BSE, on expectations of strong financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 (Q1).

The stock has hit a record high of Rs 4,138 in intra-day so far. The stock has rallied 24% thus far in 2015, compared to a sub-2% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Mumbai: Maruti Suzuki India Ltd will export a premium compact car, which it expects to launch this year, to Japan, competing with Ford Motor Co. to become the first car maker to sell a made-in-India automobile in a first-world market.

The plans to export the car, code-named YRA, were revealed by two people familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity. A spokesperson for Maruti said in an email that the company would not comment on future plans.

Country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India today said its compact car Celerio has achieved one lakh sales mark in the domestic market in less than 1.5 years after its launch in the country.

Launched in February last year at the Delhi Auto Expo, Celerio is credited with introducing auto gear shift technology in the Indian automobile industry.

Maruti Suzuki is not only the country’s largest passenger vehicle company. If you go by volumes of pre-owned cars sold, it occupies the third slot in the passenger vehicle industry. Maruti’s pre-owned or used car business has grown to a record 358,000 units (in 2014-15).

The sheer volume of units sold, makes True Value (Maruti’s pre-owned car business) the third-largest domestic passenger vehicle seller (irrespective of new or old) after Maruti (at 1.17 million) and Hyundai Motor (at 420,000).

Maruti Suzuki’s plan to use only the S logo to brand its premium cars follows the lead of most luxury car makers, which use logos and not names on vehicles.

Hyundai Motor India, Maruti’s closest competitor, has made this a standard practice in many of its models. Hyundai stopped using the company badge in some models from the end of 2013. Its uses the circular H with the model name.

In its bid to crack the big vehicle segment, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI), known for its small cars, is establishing a new set-up of retail outlets under the Nexa brand to sell premium products, starting with the upcoming S-Cross model.

The company, which has set a target of selling two million units annually by 2020 with around 25 models, expects the Nexa network to contribute a significant amount to sales and will open 100 dealerships under it in 30 cities by the end of this financial year. Its dealerships have hired 700 people from other sectors like hospitality, aviation and financial services, to offer a differentiated luxury car buying experience for its “discerning customers”.

Pressure has started showing on passenger vehicle numbers. Maruti Suzuki, the country’s largest player, reported a marginal growth of 1.6% in domestic sales in June.

Volume has been affected by a sharp decline of 28% in entry level cars (Alto and WagonR).

Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor, the country's biggest car makers, will next month launch a new product each in the sports utility vehicle segment, a space where neither is well represented. Hyundai is set to launch the Creta on July 21 and Maruti will launch the S-Cross in mid-July.

Technically, the S-Cross is a crossover-a car with features of a sports utility vehicle (SUV)-but it is expected to be positioned against the Renault Duster, Nissan Terrano, Ford EcoSport and the Creta.

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