Suzuki is about to begin its celebrations completing 40 years of existence in India. On 28th August, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate ceremony commemorating four decades of Suzuki’s presence in India and will lay foundation stone of two key projects.
These two Maruti Suzuki projects are Suzuki Motor Gujarat Electric Vehicle Battery Manufacturing Facility at Hansalpur and Suzuki’s upcoming vehicle manufacturing facility in Kharkhoda, Haryana.
The Hansalpur facility will be set-up with an investment of around INR 7,300 crore to manufacture Advance Chemistry Cell batteries for electric vehicles. The vehicle manufacturing facility in Kharkhoda will have the potential to manufacture 1 million passenger vehicles per year, making it one of the largest passenger vehicle manufacturing facilities at a single site in the world. The first phase of the project will be set up with an investment of over INR 11,000 crore.
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According to RC Bhargava, the chairman of Maruti Suzuki, partnership with Japan in manufacturing space will be a huge positive for India as it can learn a lot in terms of skills, best practices and management systems. He said:
“I believe that India Japan partnership, which we have seen in Maruti Suzuki and some other areas, is becoming stronger, and more and more Japanese companies are getting interested in investing in India, partnering with Indian companies.”
He sees India as one of the most competitive manufacturing destination in the world, adding that “some small countries may be very good, but then they don’t have the manpower which we have.” Bhargaya went on to say, if the two countries [Japan and India] deepen their ties, then:
“I think this combination is unbeatable in the world. I don’t think that if India and Japan work together with full partnership and trust, anybody in the world including China can do better than us.”
Maruti Suzuki is the leading automaker in India with a market share of more than 43% in the passenger vehicle segment. The company had achieved its highest-ever annual sales of 17,29,826 units in FY2018-19, cornering a market share of 51.21%. However, it declined to 43.38% at 13,31,558 units in FY2021-22.
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In FY22, the company reported a total consolidated revenue from operations at INR 88,330 crore. Its parent Suzuki Group of Japan has so far invested INR 65,000 crore in India.
A computer animation professional with over 23 years of industry experience having served in leading organizations, TV channels & production facilities in Pakistan. An avid car enthusiast and petrolhead with an affection to deliver quality content to help shape opinions. Formerly written for PakWheels as well as major publications including Dawn. Founder of CarSpiritPK.com