Eight automobile engineers from Detroit, the car capital of the US will join Maruti Suzuki's operations in India in the next two months. The move comes as part of Maruti's plans to set up the largest research and development centre for the parent company outside Japan.

IV Rao, managing executive officer (engineering ) of Maruti Suzuki said the engineers have tremendous capabilities in automobile research and engineering with basic specialization in car design, styling and modeling, engine development and manufacturing and testing and hybrid technology.

Rao was part of a senior delegation which visited Detroit in April this year to explore possibility of recruiting engineers who were laid off in the wake of General Motors and Chrysler bankruptcies. Tata Motors too had undertaken a similar exercise.

The move to hire car engineers and designers from the US coincides with the inauguration of the company's 700 acre facility for R&D in Manesar which is part of the company's Rs9,000 crore investment to be completed by 2010. The company currently employs around 700 employees at its R&D centre which will be scaled up to 1,000 by 2010.

Most of the engineers who have been recruited are Indians who are desirous of leaving the US to work in India. The engineers will be based at the middle management level and some would be taken on contracts.

Meanwhile the company is pushing ahead with its plans to export 1.2 lakh cars during 2009-10 of which a lakh will be the A-Star model, its newest hatchback.

Maruti had exported 38,000 A-stars till April leveraging the scrappage initiative of the Eurpean governments that allowed consumers to swap old cars for new. Nissan Motor Company which also sells the A-Star under the Pixo brand has swelled its orders from 30,000 to 50,000 units.

India's biggest carmaker is expecting double-digit growth in volumes during April-October, according to Mayank Pareek, executive officer, marketing and sales, Maruti-Suzuki. He said that the sales had grown 14 per cent in April-July and the company would continue to do well with the festive season due earlier than usual in September. He added that dealerships are already being stocked up for the festive season and current inventory leves are at three weeks. Pareek was speaking at the launch ceremony of the company's newest offering, Estilo.

The Estilo is derived from the Marut-Estilo which itself was a makeover of its largest selling model the Zen. The Zen underwent some major changes to its low-slung design to take on a tallboy shape and was launched as the Zen Estilo. The Zen-Estilo however failed to catch the consumer's fancy so the company dropped the Zen from Estilo, revamped it with a new cable-type suspension and advanced gear-shifting technology and powered it with its next-gen K-series petrol engine and presented it with a redone exterior for a sportier look as the Estilo.

The revamp cost excluding the Bharat IV emission norms compliant engine cost Rs120 crore according to Rao.