Suzuki Motor Corporation has announced that it will be manufacturing the Celerio hatchback – first launched in India on February 6 – at its Rayong plant in Thailand. The Rayong facility, which opened in March 2012, will be the second production hub for the Celerio following on from its introduction in India.
Starting May 2014, the Celerio will be produced for the Thai domestic market, followed by the production of European-specification models, which will become available in Europe during the latter half of 2014. This manufacturing strategy is in line with Suzuki’s aim to seek maximum productivity efficiency worldwide.
The Rayong plant first began operations as a global strategic production hub for the Suzuki Swift in 2012. "The Swift is manufactured and exported to the ASEAN region," said Sugiyama, president of Suzuki Motor (Thailand) Co. Ltd. "With the new Celerio, the Rayong plant will now be expanding its exports to Europe, thus increasing its importance as a global production hub."
Earlier this month, Suzuki had showcased the European-specification Celerio at the Geneva Motor Show. In the India market, the Celerio has received a handsome response with over 25,000 bookings in the first month since launch. Maruti Suzuki even claims that the car is receiving over 1,000 bookings on a daily basis. This is thanks to the attractive and affordable pricing (the Celerio manual transmission range starts from Rs 3.76 lakh while the automatic transmission variants start at Rs 4.14 lakh, ex-showroom Delhi). It is now learnt that the popular Celerio AMT variant has a waiting period of around six months, mainly due to a slower-than-expected deliveries from the AMT supplier.