Suzuki to invest ₹70,000 cr in India, start its first EV production

Japanese automaker Suzuki Motors will invest ₹70,000 crore in India over the next five to six years to expand its operations, company President Toshihiro Suzuki said on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off exports of Maruti Suzuki’s first electric car, the e-Vitara, to 100 countries and also launched the production of lithium-ion battery cells for hybrid vehicles at the company’s facility.

Speaking at the event, Toshihiro Suzuki said, "Suzuki will invest over ₹70,000 crore in India, over the next 5 to 6 years. Suzuki has proudly partnered in India's mobility journey for over four decades. We remain committed to supporting India's vision for sustainable green mobility and contributing to Viksit Bharat."

Later, in an interaction with reporters, Maruti Suzuki India Chairman R C Bhargava said the investments would be for meeting the company's target of achieving 40 lakh units annually. "We are expanding to 4 million (units annually). So the expansion of 4 million units capacity, with all the supporting infrastructure and investment in R&D, and new technologies, all of that takes a lot of money," Bhargava said when asked about areas where the investments are proposed to be made.

Asked about the finalisation of the second plant to be set up in Gujarat, which was announced last year for an investment of ₹35,000 crore, Bhargava said, "I am hoping we will be answering that question more specifically after the GST Council meeting (on September 4) because after that everybody will be making an estimate of what the impact of the GST decisions are going to be on future growth."

He, however, declined to comment on the implications of the proposed changes in GST slabs.

Suzuki Group, of which Maruti Suzuki India is a part, has already invested over ₹1 lakh crore in India. These investments have also led to the creation of over 11 lakh direct jobs in the value chain.

On the e VITARA, Bhargava said it will be for the export markets, and no timeline has been set for launching the vehicle in the domestic market. Manufactured exclusively at Suzuki Motor Gujarat (SMG), a unit of Maruti Suzuki India, the first batch of export-bound e VITARA will be shipped from Pipavav port to the European region, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, France, Denmark, Switzerland, Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Austria, and Belgium.

On the reasons for Maruti Suzuki not launching the e VITARA in India as yet, Bhargava said, apart from meeting export order obligations, cost factors have played a part, as the price of the EV is still on the higher side, as the battery is imported.

Toshihiro Suzuki said the Gujarat facility, which serves customers across India and global markets, will soon become one of the world's largest automobile manufacturing hubs, with a planned capacity of 10 lakh units. He further said, "We chose this facility to manufacture the e VITARA, our first BEV and make it a global production hub for this model. We will export this "Made-in-India BEV" to over 100 countries, including Japan and Europe."

The company's second major milestone is the "start of production of India's first lithium-ion battery and cell with electrode level localisation, which are used in our hybrid vehicles", Suzuki added. These are being manufactured at the Toshiba Denso Suzuki plant here, he added.

"With only raw material and some semiconductor parts coming from Japan, this is a big salute to Atmanirbhar Bharat. We will use a multi-powertrain strategy including Electric, Strong Hybrid, ethanol flex fuel, and compressed biogas, to achieve carbon neutrality and climate change goals," Suzuki noted.

(With PTI inputs)