New Delhi, December 20, 2007: Targeting to contribute about one-third of its parent Suzuki Motor's global sales by 2009-10, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd's newly-appointed Managing Director Shinzo Nakanishi on Thurdtoday said the company will focus on strengthening research and development for the purpose.

"I believe that Maruti Suzuki is ready to play a much bigger role in Suzuki's global operations, and my task will be to make that happen," Nakanishi said a day after he assumed office of Managing Director at the country's biggest carmaker.

Nakanishi identified strengthening of research and development operations at MSIL to realise its immediate goal of becoming an important aid in SMC's growth story worldwide.

"The R&D at MSIL will strengthen in the next 3-5 years, both in terms of infrastructure and capability so that Maruti Suzuki plays a much bigger role in Suzuki's global operations," he said.

SMC has set itself an ambitious target of selling as many as three million cars worldwide by 2009-10, and wants MSIL to contribute at least 30 per cent of this target.

"Of the three million cars that Suzuki wants to sell worldwide, almost 30 per cent have to come from Maruti Suzuki India,"he said, adding "we have an aggressive plan for new model launches".

In line with MSIL's global approach, Nakanishi said the company's engineers were working on a new generation of engines that are likely to be available in the next 3-5 years.

"Our engineers are evolving the next generation engines that will serve the Indian market, among others. Our objective is that these next generation engines should be even better in terms of fuel efficiency, emission, performance and other critical parameters," he said.