Maruti Suzuki has laid the foundation for a new battery manufacturing facility in Gujarat and a vehicle production unit in Haryana yesterday
Celebrating four decades since the commencement of its operations in India, Maruti Suzuki has laid the foundation for a new battery manufacturing facility in Gujarat and a vehicle manufacturing unit in Haryana yesterday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the special guest. The production factory in Kharkhoda, Haryana gets an investment of Rs. 20,000 crore.
The Japanese auto major has announced the establishment of a new Research & Development facility as well. The Suzuki R&D Centre India Private Limited will help in developing new technologies for local as well as international markets while consolidating its R&D capabilities. RC Bhargava, MSIL’s chairman, also revealed setting up the Suzuki Foundation.
The inauguration of the BEV unit concludes the Memorandum of Understanding penned by SMC (Suzuki Motor Corporation) with the Gujarat state government at the Indo-Japanese Summit with a committed investment of around 150 billion yen for EV operations.
Suzuki will invest over Rs. 10,000 crore in its new battery manufacturing unit in Gujarat ahead of the rollout of its first pure EV by the middle of this decade. The five-seater electric SUV internally codenamed YY8 will also give rise to a Toyota sibling. The duo will cater to India and foreign markets and will be sold in multiple battery configurations.
The EV will be underpinned by Toyota’s 40PL dedicated electric skateboard architecture and it will be modular in nature giving rise to a host of new models across different segments and body types in the future. Suzuki has also assumed responsibility for developing small electric vehicles for India based on the 27PL, which will, in turn, be derived from the 40PL platform.
The range will include sports utility vehicles and multi-purpose vehicles that will be produced at Suzuki’s Gujarat facility for the domestic and markets elsewhere. The competition in the EV space will only get intensified by 2024 and 2025 as most of the mainstream automakers are planning to bring in promising zero-emission vehicles at different price points.