Sonepat: Coming up, world’s largest passenger vehicle facility

Vijay C Roy

Chandigarh, February 5

Slated to be commissioned in phases, the upcoming Maruti Suzuki manufacturing unit at Kharkhoda in Sonepat district would have the potential to roll out 10 lakh passenger vehicles every year. This would make the unit the largest passenger vehicle manufacturing facility at a single location in the world, according to Shashank Srivastava, senior executive officer (marketing & sales), Maruti Suzuki India Limited.

At a glance

• A total of four plants would come up at Kharkhoda.
• Each of these would have a manufacturing capacity of 2.5 lakh vehicles.
• Maruti Suzuki plans to make the first plant operational by mid-2025.
• HSIIDC has allotted 1,000 plots to smaller units in Kharkhoda.
• Initial investment of Rs 11,000 crore would be made.
• This will be Maruti Suzuki’s third manufacturing unit in Haryana after Manesar and Gurugram.

“The Kharkhoda unit would house four plants, each having a manufacturing capacity of 2.5 lakh vehicles. The project is on track and the first plant would be operational in the first half of 2025,” says Srivastava. The site has space for capacity expansion to include more manufacturing plants in future. In the first phase, the company plans to invest over Rs 11,000 crore.

This will be Maruti Suzuki’s third manufacturing unit in Haryana. Currently, it has a facility at Gurugram that has a capacity of 7-7.5 lakh vehicles per annum and at Manesar, with 7.5 lakh vehicles per annum.

Notably, Maruti Suzuki has completed over four decades in Haryana and made a remarkable contribution in giving a special status to the state in the automobile sector. It was on October 2, 1982 that the Government of India and Suzuki of Japan signed a joint venture agreement. The production facility was set up in Gurugram and the first product, Maruti 800, rolled out in 1983.

Laying the foundation stone of the third unit in 2022, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that Haryana has become a major automobile manufacturing hub as about 50 per cent of the cars made in India are produced here. He said the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) had allotted 1,000 small plots to smaller units in Kharkhoda, which would play a key role in developing the industrial ecosystem in the area.

After the rollout of Maruti 800 in 1983 from Gurugram, the company not only disrupted the market but also became the undisputed leader in the passenger car market. Four decades on, it is continuing its leadership journey, currently commanding a market share of 42.6 per cent.

On the outlook for future, Srivastava says, “We have always seen the Indian market positively. In the calendar year 2023, the total number of passenger vehicles sold was around 40 lakh. Our prediction is that in 2030, 60 lakh passenger vehicles will be sold in the domestic market. Out of the total, Maruti Suzuki would sell 30 lakh, i.e. 50 per cent of the total industry volume. In addition to this, we will export 7.5 to 8 lakh vehicles. Besides, we would supply two lakh vehicles to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). So, we are going to sell around 40 lakh vehicles by 2030.”

He adds that to achieve this number, the company would have to increase its portfolio as well. “Currently, we have 17 models. To meet the targeted numbers, the offerings (models) will be more in the coming time. Since we are very bullish about the Indian market, our strategy is to be aggressive on the product front. In the last year-and-a-half, we have introduced new products, besides upgrading the existing ones. We will follow this strategy this year also and in the years to come,” he adds.

Maruti Suzuki plans to secure a production capacity of approximately 40 lakh units in India by FY 2030-31 to prepare for future expansion of the automobile market in the country.

The new plant in Kharkhoda, which would start operations in 2025, the new plant in Gujarat and the fourth production line of SMG (Suzuki Motor Gujarat Private Limited) will help achieve the milestone of 40 lakh.

“Currently, our facility at Gurugram has a capacity of 7-7.5 lakh cars per annum, while Manesar and Gujarat each have 7.5 lakh cars per annum capacity. As such, overall, our current capacity is around 21-22 lakh vehicles per annum. We need an additional capacity of 18-19 lakh to cater to the customers to meet the 2030 projections. We will fulfil 10 lakh capacity from Kharkhoda, which would be the world’s largest single location facility once it is operational. In addition to this, we need one more plant with the same capacity, for which an announcement has already been made,” says Srivastava.

Recently, at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024, the president of Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC), Toshihiro Suzuki, announced to invest Rs 382 billion (Rs 38,200 crore) in Gujarat, which includes building a second car plant and adding a new production line at an existing plant. The new plant in Gujarat is aimed to start operations in FY 2028-29. In future, the annual production capacity is expected to reach 10 lakh units with a total investment of Rs 350 billion (excluding land acquisition cost). Similarly, in view of the increasing production of electric vehicles in future, it announced the establishment of a fourth production line in its wholly-owned subsidiary SMG by investing Rs 32 billion. With the completion of the fourth line, the annual production capacity of SMG will increase from the current 7.5 lakh units to 10 lakh units.

In the current fiscal year 2023-24, the company recorded its highest-ever nine-monthly sales volume, net sales and net profit. It sold a total of 15,51,292 vehicles during the period, which is a growth of 6.9 per cent over the corresponding period in the last fiscal year. The sales in the domestic market stood at 13,46,965 units and exports at 2,04,327 units.