New Delhi, Apr 10 (KNN) Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), the country's largest carmaker, has announced a significant expansion of its manufacturing capabilities.

The company has added a new assembly line at its Manesar plant in Haryana, increasing its total production capacity from 2.25 million units to 2.35 million units per annum.

The new vehicle assembly line, with an annual capacity of 100,000 units, will manufacture several of Maruti Suzuki's best-selling models, including the Brezza, Ertiga, XL6, Wagon R, Dzire, S-Presso, Ciaz, and Celerio.

Maruti Suzuki operates three manufacturing plants across India. The Gurugram facility in Haryana has a capacity of 700,000 units per annum, while the Hansalpur plant in Gujarat can produce 750,000 units annually.

With the addition of the new line, the Manesar plant's capacity now stands at 900,000 units per annum.

Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director and CEO of Maruti Suzuki India, stated, "We aim to nearly double our capacity to 4 million vehicles per annum over the next 7-8 years, and this capacity addition of 100,000 vehicles per year is a step towards this goal. It will help us serve our customers faster and enhance our overall capability to manufacture up to 2.35 million units per annum."

Maruti Suzuki is the leader in the Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) segment, which has been witnessing significant growth in India.

The SUV segment's share of the total Indian Passenger Vehicle (PV) market increased from 40.1 per cent in 2021-22 to 43 per cent in 2022-23 and further rose to 50.4 per cent in 2023-24.

According to Shashank Srivastava, Executive Committee Member of Maruti Suzuki India, this share is expected to reach approximately 54-55 per cent by the end of 2024-25.

Srivastava also stated that the auto industry is expected to see single-digit volume sales growth in 2024-25.

(KNN Bureau)