Maruti Suzuki India to add 7.5 lakh units' capacity in Gujarat by 2020

Mehsana (Gujarat): The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) plans to add another 7.5 lakh units manufacturing capacity from three production lines in Gujarat plant by 2020, taking the total capacity to over 22.5 lakh units a year, a top company official said on Wednesday.

The company, which already has a market share of over 50 per cent in the domestic passenger vehicle segment, is also initiating process to study ways to further expand production capacity beyond 22.5 lakh units per annum after 2020.

The first assembly line of Suzuki-owned Hansalpur (Gujarat) plant has already started rolling out products. It has a production capacity of 2.5 lakh units per annum.

The second production line with similar 2.5 lakh production capacity, is expected to be complete by this year-end, MSI Managing Director and CEO Kenichi Ayukawa told reporters here. After that we are planning a third factory. Maybe it is coming around 2020, he added.

Ayukawa said the company plans to have around 5,000-6,000 workforce at three units.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the passing out of the first batch of Japan-India Institute for Manufacturing (JIM) at Ganpat Vidyanagar, Mehsana.

MSI already has a production capacity of 15 lakh units per annum across its two plants at Gurgaon and Manesar.

"First we will try 20 lakh total sales, including exports. After that we will target 20 lakh unit sales in the domestic market only," Ayukawa said.

On capacity expansion beyond 2020, he added: "I believe 22.5 lakh capacity could be enough but after 2020 and 2021 how we are going to manage our business expansion that we have to start a study for a long term plan".