Indian automaker Maruti Suzuki said on Monday it plans to add up to 1 million units of annual production capacity after buying land worth about $550 million, expanding manufacturing to meet rising domestic auto demand.
The country’s top carmaker by sales has an order backlog of about one-and-a-half months for its entry-level models, its marketing and sales head Partho Banerjee said on January 1. The company had also said then that its sales to domestic dealers were up 37% in December to a record 178,646 units.
The planned expansion follows Suzuki Motor’s announcement in August of an $8 billion investment in India over the next five to six years, alongside the start of commercial production of the mid-sized e Vitara SUV at its Gujarat plant.
Through its majority stake in Maruti Suzuki, Suzuki Motor already produces 17 models in India for export to about 100 countries, including Japan. India will also become the global production hub for the company’s electric cars.
($1 = 90.1675 Indian rupees)
Reporting by Chandini Monnappa and Mridula Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee
