Maruti Suzuki to focus on small cars, set up second plant in Gujarat
22 Dec 2012
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), the country's largest carmaker, today said the company has no plans to enter the premium car segment in India and would rather focus on the manufacture of small cars. Maruti Suzuki also said it has acquired another 600 acres of land in Gujarat to set up a second facility there.
Maruti Suzuki India has already announced plans to invest Rs4,000 crore for setting up a plant in the state, in addition to its existing plant.
''We will never go to the premium segment. Neither Maruti (MSIL) nor Suzuki (Corporation) will manufacture such cars. Small cars will remain the largest segment in India and our focus is to be a first-class player (market leader) in this segment as that is our bread and butter,'' R C Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki India, said today.
"We have land at two locations in Gujarat. The first one is offered by the government and the second one is a private land that is directly acquired by us with some negotiations by the government," Bhargava said.
He said the company acquired about 600 acres, about 40 km from its first site near Mehsana.
"The second location is for our future expansion. Once we exhaust the capacity at the first site, we will move to the second one," Bhargava said. He, however, did not elaborate on the plans.