Maruti Suzuki to support SUPRA SAEINDIA 2011

Country’s leading car-maker, Maruti Suzuki India has partnered with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE INDIA) to provide support to the SUPRA SAEINDIA 2011 competition, which will be held in India for the very first time. The contest, which was originally initiated by SAE USA, will allow talented young Indian engineering students including under-graduates and post-graduates to design, develop and build open-wheel race-cars. The official announcement of the partnership for SUPRA SAE INDIA 2011 came today as the agreement was signed by Mr Shashank Shrivastava, Chief General Manager (Marketing) Maruti Suzuki and Dr V Sumantran Chairman, SUPRA SAEINDIA.

The event offers a level playing field to students wherein they can showcase their automotive engineering skills as well as their passion for automobiles. There will a total of 44 teams which will participate in SUPRA SAEINDIA 2011 to build their ultimate race-cars and the final test will take place at the Madras Motorsport Club race-track at Sriperumbudur near Chennai. Maruti Suzuki will provide engines to all the participants in the competition while petroleum giant, Bharat Petroleum will be an associate sponsor for the competition. The winning car will also be displayed at the Asia Pacific Automotive Conference that is scheduled for October 2011 in Chennai as well as the 2012 Auto Expo that will be held in Delhi. Other big names involved in promoting the event include John Deere, SRM University and Vel Tech University. The Automotive Research Association of India from Pune will sponsor the Engineering Design Award while simulation-experts ANSYS India offer the participants training in simulation and design software.

There will be over a thousand aspiring engineering students from various engineering colleges from all over the country who will take part in the competition to build the ultimate Formula1-style open-wheel race-car. The event presents a great platform to budding students to showcase their talent and helps the young to-be engineers of tomorrow to learn and apply the basics of automobile design and technology in a practical manner with hands-on experience in a real-life environment.

On the occasion, Mr Shashank Srivastava, Chief General Manager (Marketing) Maruti Suzuki said, “As a market leader, we at Maruti Suzuki have constantly acclimatized our products and services in tune with the changing needs and aspirations of our younger consumer. Just in the past five years the average age of our car buyers a drop of 10 years  For these younger customers we make youthful and energetic cars, while not compromising on the value of fuel efficiency. This initiative with SAEINDIA helps to reinforce Maruti Suzuki’s strong connect with the youth”.

Dr. V. Sumantran (Executive Vice Chairman, Hinduja Automotive Ltd and Chairman of SUPRA SAEINDIA Steering Committee), who himself is a Motorsports enthusiast said, “SUPRA SAEINDIA is an unique event that blends the challenge and excitement of motorsports with the learnings and experience in team work and engineering.  The Auto Industry is fuelled by the energy and creativity of large number of professionals and technicians engaged within it.  Especially in India where our industry is rapidly gaining maturity on a global scale, we will need to plan for a large intake of motivated and qualified young men and women. Maruti Suzuki supported this initiative of SAEINDIA and approached the Event Organizers with an aim to sponsor this event. We appreciate their support in this area.”