TOKYO, (Reuters) – Japanese small car maker Suzuki Motor said it will target 4.2 million vehicles in global sales in five years’ time – an increase of nearly a third – with most of its expansion concentrated in its main market of India.
It expects 60% of those sales to be in India, adding that the world’s most populous nation would also receive 60% of the 2 trillion yen ($13 billion) it plans to invest by the 2030 financial year.
The company aims to boost manufacturing capacity there to meet expected local demand while expanding India’s role as an exports hub to markets in Africa and the Middle East.
“India is Suzuki’s most important market where we are putting the most effort,” President Toshihiro Suzuki said at a strategy briefing in Tokyo.
The automaker has invested heavily in India since the early 1980s and Maruti Suzuki majority-held by the Japanese automaker, commands roughly 40% of the country’s car market.
It said, however, that it now expects to launch four battery electric vehicles in India by fiscal 2030, scaling back a previous goal of rolling out six.
Suzuki also said it will target an operating profit margin of at least 10% by 2030, up from 9.2% in the past financial year. It is aiming for return on equity of 15% or more, up from 12.6%.
The automaker is also targeting revenue of 8 trillion yen by the 2030 financial year, a jump of 49%.
($1 = 150.6600 yen)
Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Edwina Gibbs
