Maruti Suzuki gears up to defend 50pc market share
Friday, 4 December 2009
NEW DELHI, Dec 3 (The Economic Times): Maruti Suzuki plans to increase its production capacity by up to 75 per cent over the next five years in a bid to hold on to its 50 per cent market share in the country's lucrative passenger car market.
"Depending on how the car market performs, we would like to reach 1.5-1.75 million units a year by 2015," said Mr Shinzo Nakanishi, MD of India's largest carmaker.
"That should help us keep the 50 per cent share of the market we now have because the total car industry will, by then, be around three million units strong," he added.
Maruti will have a capacity to build one million cars by the end of this fiscal year when its second plant in Manesar is ready.
Nakanishi said the board of Suzuki Motor, the Japanese parent of Maruti, will decide on the investment in January. The company will require an investment of at least Rs 300-400 billion to add 0.5-0.7 million additional units, said a Mumbai-based auto analyst who requested not to be named.
This will be the biggest capital expenditure by Maruti Suzuki since its Rs 900-billion investment announced in 2006.
Te capacity addition will be in phases. Maruti Suzuki has 600 acre in its Manesar complex, of which two-thirds is still free. "So we can make two plants there producing an additional 600,000 cars in Manesar itself," Nakanishi said.
"Depending on how the car market performs, we would like to reach 1.5-1.75 million units a year by 2015," said Mr Shinzo Nakanishi, MD of India's largest carmaker.
"That should help us keep the 50 per cent share of the market we now have because the total car industry will, by then, be around three million units strong," he added.
Maruti will have a capacity to build one million cars by the end of this fiscal year when its second plant in Manesar is ready.
Nakanishi said the board of Suzuki Motor, the Japanese parent of Maruti, will decide on the investment in January. The company will require an investment of at least Rs 300-400 billion to add 0.5-0.7 million additional units, said a Mumbai-based auto analyst who requested not to be named.
This will be the biggest capital expenditure by Maruti Suzuki since its Rs 900-billion investment announced in 2006.
Te capacity addition will be in phases. Maruti Suzuki has 600 acre in its Manesar complex, of which two-thirds is still free. "So we can make two plants there producing an additional 600,000 cars in Manesar itself," Nakanishi said.