India’s top carmaker, Suzuki Motor Corporation, said it expected total passenger vehicle sales in India to increase fivefold to 20m units by 2047, driven by the fast-growing middle class population and helped by a surge in demand for battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

Executive vice president Kenichi Ayukawa said the company aimed to increase its share of the Indian market from 40% to 50% by 2030 and he was very confident about the long term outlook.

The company aimed to have capacity of 4m vehicles in place by the end of the decade.

The automaker has had a presence in India since 1983 when it formed joint venture Maruti Suzuki to produce small cars and commercial vehicles. It had expanded its operations significantly since then, producing just under 2m vehicles in 2023.

Domestic sales amounted to 1.74m units last year while the overall passenger vehicle market in the country was 4.2m. The company also exported 269,000 vehicles last year, mostly to Europe.

Earlier this year, the company announced plans to build a new vehicle manufacturing hub in India’s northwestern state of Gujarat with production scheduled to start in 2028. The factory would eventually have capacity to produce 1m vehicles annually after anticipated investments totalling US$4.2bn. Suzuki’s current capacity in India is 2.25m vehicles per year.

Suzuki is also building a new plant Haryana state, just outside Delhi, with the first phase scheduled to be completed in 2025. The company plans to have capacity of 4m units across five plants by fiscal 2030.

Ayukawa said the company planned to launch its first BEV in India next year, which will also be exported to Europe, adding: “we will develop products, invest and expand our network” in India.