Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) has reported its best-ever monthly global production for August 2017 – a total of 264,380 vehicles and a year-on-year increase of 113.4 percent. Of this, Maruti Suzuki India, the jewel in Suzuki’s crown, contributed 157,339 units or 59.51 percent.

According to SMC, last month’s global production volumes are its highest yet for August, mainly due to the increase in production to cater to demand in India, its biggest market, and Pakistan.  India, of course, is the big number in Suzuki’s global scheme of things. SMC has a 56.21 percent stake in the country’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India which has the lion’s share of India’s domestic passenger vehicle market. In April-August 2017, Maruti sold 671,954 vehicles for a market share of 50.87 percent. The company, which is targeting 2 million sales (domestic and export) by 2020, is investing in expanding manufacturing capacity in India.

The company is targeting 2 million sales (both domestic and export) by the year 2020 and 2.5 million units by FY2022-23. With the new Gujarat plant going on stream earlier this year, it will have the manufacturing capacity to handle the surge in demand.

In FY2017, Maruti Suzuki India produced a total of 1,420,081 units (+8.54%) and sold a total of 1,429,201 units comprising 1,305,351 domestic sales (+11.50%) and 123,850 exports (+1.76%).

At present, it has cumulative manufacturing capacity of 1.75 million units, comprising 900,000 units at the Gurgaon plant (three assembly lines), 600,000 units at the Manesar plant (two assembly lines) and 250,000 units at the Gujarat plant (currently one assembly line).

Maruti is now actively considering a fourth assembly line for the Gujarat plant, which will have another two assembly lines of 250,000 units each by 2019. Thus, with a total capacity of a million units at the Gujarat plant, Maruti's overall capacity across three plants will stand augmented to 2.5 million units.