Suzuki to launch new ‘global car’ in India

Japanese auto maker Suzuki Motor Corp (SMC) will launch a new ‘global car’ in India and locate its biggest production units in the country, company chairman Osamu Suzuki said in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The new car, referred to as a ‘global car’ by the company, would be made at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s (MSIL) plant near the capital. Suzuki owns 54.2 per cent stake in MSIL.

The car would be targeted primarily at the European market and is expected to be launched in the small car segment, officials said.

“In order to cope with the more intensifying competition, Maruti will make further investments in the field of not only manufacturing but also R&D (research and development) and sales,” Suzuki said.

Osamu Suzuki is currently on a three-day visit to India. He is expected to highlight the increasing significance of India, which is gradually emerging as one of the company’s most important markets after Japan.

“Both our plants (Gurgaon and Manesar in Haryana) are totally geared up to produce one million units a year by 2010, but our sales network needs to be strengthened which remains one of our weak areas,” Suzuki said, adding that the company is keen to invest over $1 billion in R&D in India.

“Even though we have set ourselves the target of producing one million units by 2010, we are worried about certain challenges that the company is facing in India,” he pointed out.

“One of them is the capacity at the Mumbai port, which is currently full and operating beyond its capacity. We are also eagerly waiting for the railway freight to come up, in the absence of which we are facing huge difficulties in transportation between Delhi and Mumbai.”

The Indian government, which earlier owned a stake in the firm’s Indian subsidiary, completely exited from it in May this year.

The Maruti saga began in the 1970s when Suzuki responded to the invitation of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to set up a car factory in India in collaboration with her favourite son Sanjay Gandhi’s prototype small car project.