The country's largest automotive company, Maruti Suzuki Ltd, is set to expand its R&D capability by increasing its headcount up from 1,060 to 1,300 by the end of this fiscal as it works on a fully India developed car and sets up a test track.

Mr I.V. Rao, Managing Executive Officer-Engineering and Head of R&D Division of Maruti Suzuki, said that the company parent Suzuki had decided that they would have two major independent centres, one in Japan and another in India. The idea is to pave way for expansion of India centre, which will help cut short development time from local ‘proving ground.'

Speaking to newspersons here today, Mr Rao said “the company is investing about Rs 1,700 crore at Rohtak for developing the proving ground, which will include vehicle crash test site and wind tunnel. By having an Indian facility, we will be able to roll out cars faster.”

Scouting for talent

He said that the company Indian R&D team is scouting for talent within the country but also looking at roping in some of the Indian designers working in Germany and the US, willing to return home.

“The company is working on a shell and design of a small car which will be fully designed in India,” he said without assigning any timeline or the specific model for competitive reasons.

“The company was looking at the festive season to create the demand. We are confident of growing at the industry rate, which is likely to be single digit growth as opposed to highs seen last year. However, the export volumes may come down from 1,40,000 to 1,30,000, mainly due to lower demand from Europe,” he said.

The company parent Suzuki had decided that they would have two major independent centres, one in Japan and another in India.

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