Maruti mulling to set-up new plant at Manesar

The Indian auto giant Maruti Suzuki is understood to be mulling over establishing a new manufacturing plant at its Manesar facility. According to industry sources, the setting-up of this new plant can entail an investment of as much as Rs 1,700 crore to the company. The new plant is expected to have a manufacturing capacity of 2.5 lakh units per year and will start rolling-out vehicles by year 2012. However, the company is yet to make an official statement in this regard.

It is to be mentioned here that company's total manufacturing capacity in the country is 10 lakh units at its manufacturing plants in Manesar and Gurgaon. Where the Manesar plant produces a total of three lakh units per annum, the Gurgaon plant has an annual manufacturing capacity of seven lakh units. According to a statement given by Mr Shinzo Nakanishi, Managing Director and CEO at Maruti Suzuki, the Indian car market is likely to double to five million units by 2015 and the it needs to be prepared to meet the growing demand in order to maintain its leadership position.

The company sold a total of 2,82,488 units of its cars in the Indian market during the period of April-July, accounting for a market share of 47.68 per cent. The total sales figures of the passenger car industry during this period stood at 5,92,405 units. Comparatively, the company had a market share of 53.13 per cent to  2,33,811 units in the same period last year. This is the first ever financial year in company's more than 25 years operation in the country when its market share slipped below 50 percent. However, the company is hoping to regain the crucial 50 percent market share by the end of this financial year.

At present, Maruti India sells some of the most popular cars in the Indian market such as best selling Maruti Alto, Maruti Wagon R, Maruti A-Star, Maruti Swift and Maruti Swift Dzire.

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