New Delhi
The country s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki (MSIL) is investing Rs 11,000 crore in the first phase to set up a new manufacturing facility in Haryana. The carmaker on Friday said that it has completed the process of allotment of an 800 acres site in Sonipat.
The new facility, which will have a capacity of 250,000 vehicles per annum, is expected to be commissioned by 2025, subject to government approvals. Currently, MSIL s two existing plants at Gurugram and Manesar in the state have a combined capacity of 15,80,000 units, while the plant in Gujarat has 5,00,000 units capacity per annum. Together, the facilities churn nearly 1,73,000 units a month.
The fresh investment comes at a time when its lions share in the Indian passenger vehicle (PV) market has seen a steady fall over the past two years. While during the pre-covid years it used to sell one in over two PVs sold in India, its market share stood at 43.65% in FY2022, its lowest in 8 years. The fall in sales is attributed to the growing preference for SUVs and smaller hatchbacks becoming expensive for its target audience. Further, a global shortage of semiconductors has severely impacted production at MSIL, with the carmaker in its Q4FY22 results saying that it had a pending order of 2,68,000 units by the end of March 2022.
