Indian car-maker, Maruti Suzuki, is celebrating its 30 millionth car, following just over 40 years of building Japanese models locally. Suzuki’s automobile production in India started in December 1983 with its first model, the Maruti 800 by Maruti Udyog, the former name of what would become Maruti Suzuki. Today, production takes place at the Gurgaon and Manesar Plants, as well as Gujarat Plant of Suzuki Motor Gujarat. At these three production sites, 16 models are produced, including compact cars such as WagonR, Swift, and Baleno, as well as SUVs such as the Brezza and Fronx.
The 800 – Maruti Suzuki’s first and overall fourth best-selling car – owes its existence to the Alto of 1979, but while the Japanese car would live for just four years in first-generation guise, the…