New Delhi — Suzuki Motor plans to expand production capacity in India, cut vehicle development times and significantly improve factory productivity as the Japanese automaker works to accelerate new model launches and strengthen its global manufacturing operations.
Suzuki Motor Corporation President Toshihiro Suzuki said Friday that the company aims to reduce vehicle development time by half by 2030, improve development efficiency by 30% from fiscal 2020 levels and raise factory productivity by 50% compared with standards at its Manesar plant in Haryana.
The company also plans to increase its annual production capacity in India to 4 million vehicles by fiscal 2030, up from the current level of about 2.9 million units.
A fourth production line at Hansalpur in Gujarat recently increased annual capacity at that facility to 1 million vehicles.
Suzuki also operates plants in Gurugram, Manesar and Kharkhoda and plans to establish a new manufacturing site in Sanand.
The automaker said Japan and India will remain the two main centers of its global business strategy. Technologies developed in Japan will be shared with Maruti Suzuki India and adapted to meet the needs of individual markets.
“Technology is shared. Products are regionally optimised. This is our mindset, and this is how Suzuki competes,” Suzuki said.
The company plans to speed vehicle development by carrying out planning, design, production engineering, quality control and procurement work simultaneously rather than handling those functions in sequence.
Suzuki also intends to expand its use of digital engineering and modularization, allowing components and systems to be shared across multiple products while more closely integrating development and manufacturing.
The company said it will continue pursuing a multi-powertrain strategy rather than relying solely on battery electric vehicles.
Suzuki said differences in electricity generation, renewable energy availability, charging infrastructure, fuel supplies and government policies mean that a single propulsion technology may not be suitable for every market.
As a result, the automaker plans to continue developing battery electric vehicles and hybrids alongside internal combustion engines, compressed natural gas, flex-fuel and carbon-neutral fuel technologies. (Source: IANS)
