India's biggest automobile manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) is all set to establish its fourth assembly line in Gujarat to attain its sales target of two million units by 2020.
MSI's parent company, Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC), which owns manufacturing units, will make investments into augmenting capacity, the Economic Times reported. The move aims to strengthen the carmaker's leadership status in the country's automotive landscape.
The company is likely to invest a whopping Rs 3,000 crore to build its new production unit. The fourth production line will take Suzuki's total installed capacity to a million units in Gujarat, ET reported.
"(At) the Gujarat facility which Suzuki has set up, the first line of 250,000 units has already been commissioned, and work is going on with the second and third lines that will increase the Gujarat plant capacity to 750,000 units in 2-3 years. The fourth line of similar capacity (250,000 units per annum) is presently under review," Maruti Suzuki Chairman R C Bhargava said.
Speaking on increasing manufacturing capacity, Bhargava told the business daily that the pace of growth will ensure that the company attains its target of selling 2 million cars annually in 2020. Sales are expected to rise further to 2.5 million vehicles every year in next 2-3 years, he said. Presently, MSI manufactures around 1.5 million cars from two plants in Haryana.
Last week, Bhargava lauded the government's electric vehicle push and said the company plans to release models based on customer preferences. Speaking at the company's 36th annual general meeting (AGM) he said the move could greatly enhance the usage of electric vehicles in the country and lead to a cleaner environment over time.
Earlier on Thursday, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has sent a clear message to automobile manufacturers to move to alternative fuel vehicles. Auto companies will have to move to vehicles that run on electricity, biodiesel, ethanol and compressed natural gas "whether they like it or not", Gadkari said.
In April, Suzuki had announced joining hands with Toshiba and Denso to set up a plant in India to produce lithium ion batteries, with an investment of nearly Rs 1,200 crore, ET reported.
The auto major has around 50 percent of the market share in the Indian passenger vehicle segment.
