Maruti Suzuki has made its way to the Guinness Book of Records as a result of the world record that it has set on Sunday by planning and executing world’s largest car procession of Swift, its top selling hatchback model in Gurgaon.

Just few days back Maruti had exceeded a sale of 4.5 lakh units of the popular hatchback Swift.  This achievement has added another feather to its hat.

In a statement, the company spokesperson said “Maruti Suzuki has set a new Guinness Book of World Records by bringing together 342 Swift cars at a car parade in Gurgaon,”.

There were several car parades held on Sunday in Sriperambadur and Mumbai, but they failed to break any record.

Similar car parades were held simultaneously in Mumbai and Sriperumbudur but did not achieve any world record.
“Today’s world record is a testimony to the ever-growing popularity of the Swift. The new record is a victory for all the 4.5 lakh Swift owners,” said Mayank Pareek who is Maruti Suzuki’s executive officer for marketing and sales.

Manufacturing over 12,000 Swifts monthly at both its plants in Manesar and Gurgaon, Maruti Suzuki still finds it challenging to satisfy the demand in the market. The waiting period for the diesel version of Swift is 4 months and that for the petrol version is 2 to 3 months in the market today.

The diesel variant comes equipped with a 1.3 liter DDis engine and the petrol version has a 1.2 liter K-series engine.

The much-hyped India-US strategic dialogue that will lay foundation for Obama’s India visit later this year is scheduled to be held on June 2^nd and 3^rd. External Affairs Minister S M Krishna along with senior officials will be in Washington from June 1-4.

Mr. Krishna will meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the two-day strategic talks, covering a range of issues that will have local, bilateral and international repercussions. More stress will be given to counter-terrorism operations and bilateral cooperation concerning internal and global security. The US authorities are believed have taken additional steps to ensure that the dialogue achieves its objectives and to wipe out the impression that India-US relationship is cooling down under Obama’s tenure.

Minister Krishna is accompanied by Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao for the talks. A spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Vishnu Prakash said, “The strategic dialogue will enhance the Global Strategic Partnership between India and the US, by serving as a very important mechanism to review, enhance and coordinate our broad-based cooperation.”

“It would give direction to the programs currently under implementation and take initiatives to further the Indian and US developmental, security and economic interests,” Mr. Prakash added.

The US side will comprise of National Security Advisor James Jones, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, FBI Director Robert Mueller and the USAID Director Rajiv Shah, in addition to Ms. Clinton.

Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs revealed the importance his country is giving to the strategic dialogue when he said, “As President Obama himself has said, this will be one of our signature partnerships in the 21st century.”