Indian car market leader, Maruti Suzuki has decided to advance its capacity expansion plan by nearly two years due to new models added in the market and 15% growth over the last two years. Maruti Suzuki had decided to increase the total capacity to 1 million units by 2010 from its current capacity of 6.7 lakh units per year. It has now decided to upgrade itself to produce 1 million units by October 2008.
“Looking at demand growth and models that are in the pipeline, we have decided to advance the capacity expansion plan. The Manesar plant in Haryana will have a total capacity of 3 lakh units by October 2008, the time when we are ready to roll out A-Star, Suzuki Corporation’s fifth global car,” said top Maruti officials.
According to Maruti parent Suzuki Motors Corp’s original plan, India was to contribute one-third of the total global production by 2010. However, the Indian expansion plan has being preponed and India may initially be contributing to more than one third of the total global production which will eventually decline to one-third of the global production by 2010.
The A-Star will be launched in October 2008 while it will be exported to the European market during the early months of 2009. The car will initially be sold in the export market and eventually also be made available in the domestic market — it will be manufactured out of its Manesar plant.
The month wait for Swift’s customers before getting delivery of the car and the launch of DZire has also forced the company to advance its production hiking target.
The Manesar plant has been designed keeping in mind global aspirations of Maruti Suzuki and its parent Suzuki Motor Corporation and is considered one of the best Suzuki plants outside Japan.