Maruti Suzuki To Open Two New Facilities Soon, Foundation Stone Laid By PM Modi

It was done to commemorate Maruti’s 40 years of joint venture with Suzuki in India

2022 marks 40 years of Maruti’s partnership with Suzuki and the joint efforts of offering passenger vehicles in India. To commemorate the occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of two new projects for the carmaker: the Suzuki Motor Gujarat Electric Vehicle battery manufacturing facility at Hansalpur, Gujarat, and Maruti Suzuki’s upcoming vehicle manufacturing facility in Kharkhoda, Haryana.

An Overview Of The Two Projects

Suzuki has already announced that it will be investing around Rs 10,400 crore (of which Rs 7,300 crore is dedicated to battery manufacturing) for the manufacturing of EVs and batteries at the new Gujarat facility. It will be producing advance chemistry cell batteries planned from 2026. The Gujarat facility, which will also be manufacturing electric vehicles from 2025, has an annual vehicle manufacturing capacity of 7.5 lakh units.

On the other hand, the Haryana plant will cater to the manufacturing of 10 lakh vehicles every year, making it one of the largest passenger vehicle manufacturing facilities at a single site in the world. The first phase of the project will be established with an investment of more than Rs 11,000 crore.

Maruti’s EV Game Plan

Futuro-E concept

The carmaker has already announced that its first all-electric vehicle will be introduced in the market in 2025. It is likely to be a ground-up new EV with no internal combustible engine (ICE) counterpart. While details of the first Maruti EV are scarce at the moment, we believe it could be a crossover model, which could retail between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 20 lakh. The Maruti EV’s primary rivals will be the Mahindra XUV400 and Tata Nexon EV.

Also Read: Maruti Suzuki Has Nearly 4 Lakh Orders Pending Delivery

First Taste Of Electric Power

In the run-up to EV manufacturing, Maruti has, for the first time, toyed with a strong-hybrid powertrain (Toyota’s technology) for its latest compact SUV, the Grand Vitara. It comes with a 1.5-litre petrol engine (having a combined output of 116PS) and an electric motor delivering 80.2PS and 141Nm. 

Maruti claims the strong-hybrid version of the SUV can cover 40 percent of the distance and 60 percent of the time in electric or zero-emission mode. This setup’s claimed average fuel efficiency figure stands at 27.97kmpl. Since it’s a partnered product with Toyota, the latter’s Urban Cruiser Hyryder, which is based on the same platform as the Maruti SUV, also offers the same average mileage. They are able to cover around 1,200km on a full tank.