Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. is having some difficulties deciding on a location for its greenfield factory in Gujarat, despite its plans to increase its capacity by the end of the decade.
“There has been a slight hold-up in deciding on the location of a new one million unit expansion. At the company’s annual general meeting, Chairman RC Bhargava informed investors, “We are doing everything in our power to reach a swift decision in this matter.”
Early in the previous year, plans were revealed to build a second plant in Gujarat with a capacity of one million vehicles, apart from the Suzuki Motor Gujarat (SMG) facility.
Maruti Suzuki currently has an annual production capacity of 2.35 million units across three plants – two in Haryana (Gurugram and Manesar) and the SMG.
The automaker has set a target of 4 million units by 2030-31 and will be investing about Rs 45,000 crore for the incremental two million units.
The company’s SMG plant in Gujarat, which it acquired from Suzuki Motor Corp last year, currently has a manufacturing capacity of 750,000 units per annum across three production lines.
A fourth production line with a capacity of an additional 250,000 units is also being set up at the existing facility in the state.
Meanwhile, the automaker has already started the construction of a new facility in Sonipat, Haryana. “Our programs are expanding, production is proceeding as scheduled. Cars produced in the Kharkhoda plant will add to our sales in 2025-2026,” Bhargava said.
In the first phase of the Kharkhoda plant, the company targets an initial capacity of 250,000 units, which eventually boosted to 1 million units.
With a plan of investing over Rs 1.25 lakh crore over the next seven years, the country’s largest Maruti intends to not only drive the Indian passenger vehicle market to a new high, but will also leverage the base to export over 7.5 lakh cars by 2030-31.
Apart from expanding the capacity, the company’s strategy involves expanding its current product lineup from 17 models to 28. The company is set to launch its first electric vehicle model early next year and plans for an electric vehicle portfolio of six models by the end of this decade.