New Delhi, March 8th, 2008: On International Women¿s Day today, car market leader Maruti Suzuki pledged to empower women and promote road safety through its dedicated network of Maruti Driving Schools and Institutes of Driving Training and Research in the country.

With the existing network of 30 Maruti Driving Schools spread over 27 cities, the car giant is ready to add another five driving schools by the end of this fiscal to reach many more aspirants.

The popularity of Maruti Driving Schools amid women can be gauged from the fact that 52 per cent of the learners at these schools are women. Over 15,000 women have already been trained.

(The views and experiences of a few women learners are below)

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. R.K. Parimoo, General Manager, Maruti Suzuki India Limited said, ¿While empowering and imparting mobility to women, another crucial aspect is to sensitise the woman of the house towards `Safe Driving¿. Like any other good practice `Safe driving¿ is easy to preach, very difficult to practice. However, if you train the lady of the house or sensitize her towards this cause, you can be assured some lessons would reach common people¿.

The theme for this year¿s International Women¿s year, ¿Shaping Progress¿ thus goes well with Maruti Suzuki¿s initiative of lending mobility to women and ¿shaping their new world¿.

Profile of learners

Majority of women learners at Maruti Driving Schools are homemakers. Some others are college students while some are grandmothers, yet what is common is their sheer passion to learn driving.

Maruti Driving School is a unique initiative

At MDS, the training modules are as per international standards and include both theory and practical inputs. Difficult driving situations such as fog, uphill terrain, rain and night driving is simulated on state-of-the-art simulators to give learners a first hand experience of diverse conditions. Only after class room and simulator training, the learners are taken for actual driving on road.

Lady instructors have been appointed to train women at these schools. In addition, the learners also pick up car handling training like changing flat tyre and handling minor snags and repairs in the vehicle.

Road Safety & Maruti Suzuki

Maruti has been actively promoting Road Safety since 2000. *The first initiative was adopting Institute of Driving Training & Research, Delhi. Started as a training center for heavy vehicle and commercial drivers, the IDTR is now at two locations in Delhi. While the 1st one at Loni still focuses on commercial drivers, the one at Sarai Kale Khan south Delhi has learners for passenger cars. Certain state governments have approached Maruti Suzuki to replicate the IDTR models in their states.

In order to reach the driving skills to the masses across the country, Maruti Suzuki started the Maruti Driving Schools initiative in 2005. The MDS are set up in association with the company¿s dealer network and the trainers are taught at Maruti¿s IDTR facilities in Delhi.

Other Women Friendly Initiatives:

Other than bringing user-friendly cars for women, Maruti Suzuki has undertaken many other important initiatives for women car owners.

Last year, the company set out to delight women customers by offering them a complimentary vehicle pick and drop facility for servicing their cars. Over 130,000 women have availed this facility so far.