Maruti to make small commercial vehicle at its new Gujarat plant

Maruti Suzuki India is mulling production of its small Light Commercial Vehicle (codenamed Y-9T) from its Gujarat plant, which is to become operational by end-2015.

While the strategy for the SCV is still being worked out, the carmaker is targeting a market share of 40 percent from its SCV product portfolio from a segment which, according to the company’s top officials, is slated to grow to 10 million units over a 10-year period. The Maruti SCV is slated to have a payload capacity of 1 to 1.5 tonnes and will be pitted against the Tata Ace and the Mahindra Maxximo. LCV goods carriers are expected to grow 10-12 percent in FY’14, according to SIAM’s industry forecast. This segment grew 15.88 percent during FY’13 at 476,734 units.

Industry sources say the SCV could be based on the Omni truck platform of Suzuki available in South East Asian countries but with a smaller payload capacity. The capacity of this truck could be further upgraded for the Indian market.

Meanwhile, the company’s ‘West’ strategy also includes manufacturing the Swift premium hatchback from its Gujarat plant with the first plant located at Hansalpur, near Becharji in Mehsana district. Currently, the Manesar plant rolls out 16,000-18,000 Swifts every month. Maruti has acquired about 600 acres at Hansalpur and another 500-600 acres at Vithalapur, about 40km from the first location, and 60km from Sanand.

Gujarat plant as a hub
The country’s largest carmaker recently held a suppliers conclave at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia where it spoke of turning its Gujarat plant into an export hub. Maruti is girding up to leverage the Mundra Port in Gujarat as an export base for a million cars in the long term. It has already established the initial infrastructure in terms of its pre-delivery inspection facility there that can park up to 20,000 cars at any given time at present but the capacity can be stepped up.

In the last week of April 2013, Osamu Suzuki, chairman of Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC), had met the chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, to discuss Maruti’s plans of starting work on its new manufacturing facility. The company plans to build two production units with combined capacity of 1.5 million cars per annum.

Third line at Manesar to be operational in Q3
Meanwhile, the carmaker's third production line at Manesar will go on stream in Q3 of FY’14, taking up total production capacity at both its Gurgaon and Manesar plants to 1.5 million units per annum during this fiscal with 50 percent contributed by each of the setups.

Overall, Maruti is keen to maintain a market share of 42-43 percent despite the gyrations of the market. In April 2013, it gained 3 percent over April 2012 sales to garner a market share of 43.4 percent. In 2012-13, it had a market share of 39.12 percent, up 0.9 percent from 38.27 percent in 2011-12.

Meanwhile, SMC also plans to step up its component sourcing from Indian suppliers who are believed to have an opportunity of supplying for 175,000 cars in the ASEAN region spanning countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand among others during 2013-14.