Aim to be No.1 EV maker in one year, says Maruti Suzuki CEO

Despite being late to the electric vehicle party, India's largest passenger vehicle maker Maruti Suzuki, which launched its first electric car on Friday, has set a target to become the country's largest car maker in the first year itself.

"In terms of production volume of electric vehicles, we are targeting to become the number one electric vehicle manufacturer in India, within one year," Maruti Suzuki Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer Hisashi Takeuchi told reporters at the Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025. 

E Vitara, Maruti Suzuki’s first electric car, is set to go for production at the automaker’s plant in Gujarat during March-April. The vehicle is likely to be exported to Europe, and Japan, before being aggressively marketed in India. A large part of the production of e Vitara is likely to go for exports initially. 

Currently, Tata Motors is the largest electric carmaker in India. Being an early entrant to the electric vehicle market, Tata Motors commands almost 62% of the market. The automaker is estimated to have sold around 61,400 electric cars in 2024. However, its models are sold in India, not exported.

Europe, India and Japan are Suzuki Motor’s key business regions under its growth strategy for the financial year 2030. India is the largest market for Japan’s fifth-biggest carmaker, with the country accounting for over 61% of total output in the previous financial year and 57% of its total global sales.

Parent company Suzuki Motor Corp is now positioning India as its export hub by leveraging the scale it has achieved here. Autocar Professional had reported that 
the existing Gujarat plant, which can produce 750,000 cars per annum across three production lines, was recently acquired by Maruti Suzuki from its parent company Suzuki Motor Corp. Maruti Suzuki has also announced its plans to almost double production capacity to 4 million cars by the end of this decade.

The Indian subsidiary currently has an annual production capacity of 2.35 million cars across three plants – two in Haryana (Gurugram and Manesar) and the Gujarat plant. In addition, the automaker is setting up two greenfield plants in Gujarat and Haryana.

The new plant in Gujarat will have a capacity of one million units, while the plant in Haryana (Sonipat) will have an initial capacity of 250,000 units, and will be boosted to produce one million units eventually.