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Suzuki Motor Gujarat Private Limited (SMG) will be setting up a ₹3100 crore fourth car manufacturing plant in Gujarat to manufacture its first electric SUV, which will be launched in 2024-25, said officials on Wednesday.
“Our first electric vehicle, which will be launched in the next financial year 2024-25, will be from the SMG’s plant in Gujarat. This high-specification SUV will have a range of 550 kilometers and a 60-kilowatt battery,” said Rahul Bharti, Executive Vice President, Corporate Planning and Government Affairs of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL). SMG is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Maruti Suzuki and had started operations in Gujarat in February 2017.
The official said the company will set up a new car manufacturing plant within its existing factory at Hansalpur in Ahmedabad district where it manufactures 7.5 lakh units of Baleno, Swift, Dzire, Fronx, and Tour S models in three existing plants. Bharti did not disclose the capacity of the fourth plant for manufacturing the electric vehicle. The company had set up its second and third car manufacturing plants in January 2019 and April 2021, respectively.
“We will also be exporting this EV manufactured in Gujarat,” he added. SMG had started exporting cars from the Hansalpur unit in March 2018. On December 4, 2023, SMG rolled out the 30th lakh car — a Fronx — that has been manufactured in Gujarat since it began operations. Last financial year, a sizeable per cent of the cars produced in the plant were exported from Mundra and Pipavav ports of the State. In the domestic market, MSIL has a 24 per cent market share in the SUV segment.
- Also read: Suzuki Motor unveils concept electric SUV
“By the turn of this decade (by 2030-31), we will have about 5-6 EVs in our portfolio,” the official said.
In order to support EV production, a ₹7,300 crore battery plant is being set up by Suzuki R&D India Ltd in close proximity to the new EV plant at Hansalpur. “The construction work of this plant has begun,” Bharti added. Currently, the three plants of SMG are operating at almost 100 per cent capacity and employ a total of 3,200 persons as on April 1, 2023.
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