Maruti Suzuki India said total production may reach 2m units a year by 2014-15, up over 66% on current levels once two new assembly plants at Manesar start work by 2012.
A Hindustan Times report noted the automaker earlier this year announced it was building two 250,000 units assembly plants at Manesar that would take installed capacity to 1.44m. Maruti now has three plants in Guragon with combined 643,000 unit capacity plus and a 300,000 unit plant in Manesar.
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Maruti however is reputed to produce much more than its installed capacity at each plant thanks to high flexibility.
“This year we have been surprised by the pace of growth in the industry but thanks to our innovations at the production level we have managed to add 200,000 units capacity without investing in a new plant,” managing director Shinzo Nakanishi said.
Maruti is expected to build 1.2m cars this fiscal year to 31 March with Gurgaon accounting for over 900,000.
The carmaker said capacity could be further enhanced to 1m from Gurgaon alone while Manesar would have similar production levels once all three plants become operational.
“Our endeavour would be to produce 1m cars from Gurgaon and, though Manesar will have an installed capacity of 800,000 with its three plants, we hope to achieve similar levels there as well,” production chief MM Singh told the Hindustan Times.
In the first eight months of this fiscal year, Maruti’s car sales rose 26.5% to 620,000 units, behind an overall industry gain of 32%, with the market leader’s share falling below the psychological 50% mark. The company remained unsure whether it can reclaim that position next year.
“If the market continues to grow the way it has this year, then our share may fall but if it shrinks then it will go up,” Nakanishi said. “Next year would be tight for us because of production constraints as our new capacity at Manesar would be available only in the second half. So our market share may go down further but I do not mind that because our volumes would still be higher.”
Maruti will enter the local premium sedan segment with the Kizashi plus diesel versions of the SX4 and Swift.
