Suzuki to invest $1.3 bn for making EVs in India

Suzuki Motor is now giving a big push to its electric vehicle (EV) plans in India with the Japanese company lining up an investment of a whopping $1.3 billion (Rs 10,000 crore) into the Maruti Suzuki factory. 

The factory is set to manufacture e-cars as well as batteries. With Maruti’s entry into the EV space, competition is set to intensify in the affordable car market in India as well as in the sedan and SUV segments. 

In Indian currency, the Japanese giant will keep ~3,000 crore for the new plant to ramp up EV production in India. Also, Suzuki will set aside ~7,300 crore to manufacture electric batteries.

Maruti Suzuki WagonR EV

This move will surely rattle up the pricing of battery-powered cars, prompting other carmakers to do a rethink and slash their prices.

The Indian EV space is currently dominated by electric two-wheelers.

Suzuki is believed to be considering making India an e-car manufacturing hub, as it is bullish not only on local demand but also exports.

Kenichi Ayukawa, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Maruti Suzuki India, had earlier revealed that the Suzuki plant in Gujarat could be utilised for making EVs.

Currently, Tata Motors has a firm grip on India’s EV space while MG and Maruti have plans of lining up affordable EVs. 

So, even Maruti will have to reach out to the common car buyer with its offerings to make an impression in India’s market. Maruti Suzuki is testing the WagonR’s electric model. 

It is believed that the WagonR EV will be priced 60 per cent higher than the petrol variant — that is Rs 10 lakh — and this high pricing, if true, could be the death knell for the WagonR.

But the carmaker had earlier said it would foray into the EV segment only after it feels that it can play the volume game.

RC Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki India, had said last year, that with Maruti being the leader in passenger vehicles, it fully intends to gain “leadership position in electric vehicles.”

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The company is of the opinion that it will enter the EV segment when customers can buy the cars. Maruti Suzuki sells petrol and petrol-CNG cars in India and had done away with diesel cars a few years ago.

‘Also promote CNG and hybrid cars’

Also, Bhargava had earlier said that in India, where per capita income is a fraction of Europe and the US and with coal being the major source of energy here, EVs may not give the intended results in the next decade or so.

He had also said technologies like compressed natural gas (CNG), bio-CNG, ethanol and hybrids must also be promoted along with EVs. These fuels can also give a fillip to India’s pollution control measures.

Bhargava also wanted to know why the government taxed CNG vehicles at par with polluting petrol and diesel cars.

But with Suzuki planning to invest $1.3 billion in EVs, it surely has something in mind with regard to pricing.