April 23: India’s largest carmaker is fast scaling up its research and development activities. The foundation stone for its new R&D Centre and Proving Ground at Rohtak was laid by Bhupinder Singh Hooda, chief minister of Haryana earlier today.

Maruti Suzuki is expected to invest around Rs 2,000-2,400 crore to set up this top-notch R&D facility which is spread across 600 acres. It will be an integrated facility for vehicle testing and evaluation, which is crucial for developing new car models.

Commenting on the occasion, Shinzo Nakanishi, MD and CEO, Maruti Suzuki India, said: “This R&D centre at Rohtak will be equipped with the latest R&D infrastructure and world-class test tracks. It will augment the R&D capability of Maruti Suzuki engineers manifold and will enable us to design, develop and launch cars at a faster pace.”

Maruti Suzuki, which has substantially augmented its engineering manpower in recent years, is scaling up its R & D capability to launch more new models and strengthen its leadership in India.

The company’s engineers have, in recent times, acquired significant know-how and hands-on experience in different areas. They have co-designed and developed global models like the Swift and, more recently, the Ertiga, with their counterparts in Suzuki, Japan.

A fortnight ago, I V Rao, managing executive officer (engineering), Maruti Suzuki, had told Autocar Professional that the carmaker had increased its R&D investments substantially since the past five years. In 2010-11, it spent over Rs 400 crore. According to Rao, “Our major R&D efforts have gone into developing capability for full body change in India, and developing fuel-efficient vehicles equipped with the new-generation K-series engines and CNG models. We also invest in new technology adoption, adaptation and absorption. Besides this, our parent company in Japan invests a lot in new green technology development, which MSIL adopts.”