Customer preference to drive Maruti Suzuki EV plans: R C Bhargava

India's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India’s (MSIL’s) chairman, R C Bhargava has said the company, will not hold back on electric vehicles (EVs) once the infrastructure is ready for it in India. It will look at determining customer preferences for its EV offerings, as per an article by Livemint. 

Addressing the shareholders of the company at the 36th Annual General Meeting (AGM), Bhargava applauded the government’s policy that pushed for achieving a fleet of all-electric vehicles in the country by the year 2030 as it would lead to cleaner environment. 

MSIL that has stronghold on the domestic market sold a total of 674,432 vehicles till April-August 2017, including 151,270 vehicles (+26.2%) in August 2017. MSIL currently commands more than 50 percent of the market share in the passenger vehicles, and is optimistic of achieving double-digit growth over next three to five years. 

R C Bhargava informed the shareholders on the company’s future ambition and said, “Your company will not hold back in the segment. As soon as we can determine the customer preference we will come up with such models. In the meantime, focus will be to increase fuel efficiency (in current models) and bring in new technologies.” 

Responding to a suggestion by a shareholder on venturing into defence production, the chairman said, “it is something which needs to be carefully thought about.”