New Delhi, May 1: It's difficult not to get more than a bit worried about what's happening at Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) these days. For at a time when a host of competitors are firming their plans to take on this local giant in even its own backyard -- the small-car segment -- you barely get a peep out of Maruti on its plans to combat the onslaught. And an onslaught it certainly will be.

One Korean giant, Hyundai Motor Company, has already announced its plans to come up with a 999 cc five-seater which will be launched early next year in Korea. Simultaneously, it plans to design another, or adapt this one, for the Indian market. The car is expected to cost around Rs 3 lakh as compared to Maruti's 800cc's Rs 2.35 lakh and the Zen's Rs 3.94 lakh. Hyundai is investing $ 1.1 billion to set up capacity of 1.2 lakh cars per annum near Chennai.

And just yesterday, the other Korean giant Daewoo announced its plans to set up production facilities for, among others, one lakh mini-cars which would be ready by the year-end. While the company remains tight-lipped about the model it will be introducing, it is certain to be an advanced version of its high-selling Tico which, ironically, has an engine which was developed by Suzuki.

And while Eicher Motors' small car project (the Stella) appears to have run into fairly serious problems, the same cannot be said about Telco's project, the Indica. The Indica which might roll out next year is expected to be a 1,000 cc diesel 4-seater which will be priced at Rs 2.25 lakh which is even lower than Maruti's existing price. The price tag of Rs 1.5 lakh will ensure that even Kinetic Engineering's 480 cc City Car will pose some degree of threat, even though the car will clearly not match either the power or the performance of Maruti's 800 cc model.

And what of Maruti? Apart from the heightening conflict between the two owners -- Suzuki Motor Company of Japan and the Government of India -- what is it doing? For starters, it has decided to set up a third plant to manufacture one lakh vehicles near Gurgaon in Haryana at a cost close to Rs 1,000 crore. But while that's all very well, what it does not address is the issue of technological obsolescence which is now becoming a big issue with Maruti.

The fact of the matter is that when it entered the market towards the end of 1983, Maruti's engine and body represented new and efficient technology.

Now, close to 14 years later, Maruti has made just minor changes to the body, and a few more to the engine even the much-touted ``new'' model is over 11 years old.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.