Saturday, February 04, 2012
By Manoj Kumawat
Maruti Gujarat plant process to move soon
Maruti has realized that how even a few days strike could hit its production largely. Sensing that it is better to setup new plants in India so that production could be compensated at the other plants, Maruti has zeroed in Gujarat as its new destination. However, as per recent reports, the largest car maker is yet to finalise land for its proposed plant in Gujarat. Notably, Maruti had to suffer a loss of production of 1 lakh cars due to the strike at its Manesar plant in later half of 2011. Following the strike, production of Maruti Swift Dzire and Maruti Swift hatchback was severely affected.
Maruti Suzuki Managing Executive Officer (Engineering) I V Rao has told media in New Delhi that Maruti has finished the preliminary talks with the Gujarat government however there is still more talks pending regarding the when, where and how much land will be given to Maruti. Maruti will be producing cars such as Maruti A-Star besides others which are exported keeping in view the proximity of the Mundra port in Gujarat.
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The Gujarat plant will be the first Maruti car production unit outside its homeland Haryana. Experts believe that setting up an export oriented plant in Gujarat is abreast with Maruti’s export growth plans. However, the carmaker has been struggling with sales in 2011 commensurate with the overall slowdown in car sales in India and so it could not focus on the project. Now that sales are back on track, the things are hoped to speed up, added sources.
Apart from setting up a new plant, the existing plant at Manesar is in the process of getting a third unit and with that the overall production capacity of Maruti cars in India touches 1.75 million annually. This will not only help Maruti produce more cars per year, but will also cut the waiting period for cars like Maruti Swift and Swift Dzire as well as newly launched Maruti Swift Dzire CS significantly.
