Japan-based Suzuki Motor will invest an estimated $8.05 billion over the next five years in its Indian arm Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), to ramp up production of new models as well for initiatives aimed at carbon neutrality and improving quality and efficiency, a company statement said on Monday, February 24.
Giving a breakdown of the total investments, the company said that around $3.68 billion would be invested in expanding MSIL’s production capacity to 4 million units of passenger cars a year, $2.67 billion for launching new models, and the balance for carbon-neutral initiatives and quality and efficiency measures.
Suzuki Motor is looking at India as its most important market, which will continue to grow and serve as the engine for the automaker’s future growth. MSIL which once had a market share of over 50 percent of passenger vehicles in India is aiming to reclaim the 50 percent mark by the end of this decade.
MSIL currently has an annual production capacity of 2.35 million units across three plants, two in Haryana (Gurugram and Manesar) and the Gujarat plant. The automaker has set a target to almost double output to 4 million units by 2030-31 with plans for two greenfield plants, one in Kharkhoda, Sonipat, and the other in Gujarat.
The Kharkhoda plant, which will have a total annual capacity of 1 million units, will start operations in a phased manner this year with an initial capacity of 250,000 units planned in the first phase. The automaker is yet to finalize the site of the greenfield facility planned in Gujarat.