After being a late mover in the green mobility space, India’s largest carmaker Maruti is set to unleash massive investments and new cars in the electric vehicles space with its Japanese parent Suzuki committing £1.04 billion for zero emission vehicles and batteries.
The investments will be made at Suzuki’s plant in Gujarat, which recently bagged benefits under the government’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, and is likely to see vehicles and batteries being produced for the requirements of Maruti Suzuki as well as Toyota, Suzuki’s alliance partner for the Indian market.
Maruti, which is at least two years away from launch its first mainline electric vehicle, is looking to take on Indian heavyweights Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, as well as traditional rival Hyundai and its group company Kia. Suzuki’s plans for electrics were announced as part of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s India visit with the company signing an MoU with Gujarat on Saturday.
The biggest chunk of the fresh funds will be spent towards the battery plant that will see £730 million being invested with a production target of 2026. Electric vehicles will see investments of £310 million with a production target of 2025. Maruti Suzuki Toyotsu, a joint venture between Suzuki and Toyota Tsusho for vehicle dismantling and scrapping, will also see £4.5 million investments for a plant that will be operational by 2025.
