Maruti Suzuki faces delay in finalising site for new Gujarat plant

India's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, which plans on doubling its capacity by the end of this decade, is facing some delays in finalising the site for its greenfield plant in Gujarat. 

"A small delay has taken place in finalising the site for a new 1 million unit expansion. We are making our best efforts to come to a quick decision in this matter," Chairman RC Bhargava told investors at its annual general meeting on Monday.

The plan for a second plant in Gujarat, apart from the Suzuki Motor Gujarat (SMG) facility, with a capacity of 1 million units, was announced early last year.

Maruti Suzuki currently has an annual production capacity of 2.35 million units across three plants – two in Haryana (Gurugram and Manesar) and the SMG.

The automaker has set a target of 4 million units by 2030-31 and will be investing about Rs 45,000 crore for the incremental two million units.

The company’s SMG plant in Gujarat, which it acquired from Suzuki Motor Corp last year, currently has a manufacturing capacity of 750,000 units per annum across three production lines.

A fourth production line with a capacity of an additional 250,000 units is also being set up at the existing facility in the state.

Meanwhile, the automaker has already started the construction of a new facility in Sonipat, Haryana. “Our programs are expanding, production is proceeding as scheduled. Cars produced in the Kharkhoda plant will add to our sales in 2025-2026,” Bhargava said.

In the first phase of the Kharkhoda plant, the company targets an initial capacity of 250,000 units, which eventually boosted to 1 million units.

With a plan of investing over Rs 1.25 lakh crore over the next seven years, the country’s largest carmaker intends to not only drive the Indian passenger vehicle market to a new high, but will also leverage the base to export over 7.5 lakh cars by 2030-31.

Apart from expanding the capacity, the company’s strategy involves expanding its current product lineup from 17 models to 28. The company is set to launch its first electric vehicle model early next year and plans for an electric vehicle portfolio of six models by the end of this decade. 

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