The production of some models of Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest car-maker, is likely to be hit in the coming days after a major fire broke out at the premises of one of its vendors on Tuesday night, disrupting the function of the facility. The vendor, India Japan Lighting, located at Bawal in Haryana, supplies head lamps and tail lamps to Maruti Suzuki.
No causalities have been reported so far, and the company is currently evaluating the damage. The fire had led to an immediate shutdown of the India Japan Lighting plant. The incident could affect the production of some of Maruti Suzuki's top-selling models, such as the Baleno premium hatchback. India Japan Lighting supplies parts for the company's popular models like the Baleno, the WagonR and the Ciaz. Maruti already has a huge list of orders for the Baleno and the Vitara Brezza, and is currently struggling to meet the scaling demand.
Although Maruti has three other suppliers — Lumax Ltd, Minda Group and Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd. — to source lighting components, their parts are said to be for specific models and cannot replace the others, Livemint reported.
Maruti had earlier in May suspended the operations at its Manesar and Gurgaon plants in Haryana after supplies of components from parts supplier Subros Limited was disrupted. Subros Limited, which is situated in Sector 8 of Manesar, in the vicinity of the Maruti Udyog factory, makes air-conditioners for Maruti Suzuki.
