Maruti Suzuki India Limited, the country’s largest passenger car maker, has officially declared to increase the production at its Manesar plant. Reportedly, the company is looking forward to install a third assembly line at the unit before the end of ongoing year. Sources close to the development process revealed that currently the Manesar plant has an installed capacity of 1.5 million units per year, which will roll out an additional of 250000 units by the end of 2013.
The plan to increase the production capacity is parallel to Maruti Suzuki’s future aim of expanding the production of diesel models by around 16 per cent in the next fiscal. Reportedly, for the current year, the auto maker has planed to deliver 400000 diesel models in the Indian auto market and has set a target to take these figures to 465000 before the end of 2014. According to a report, Maruti Suzuki has acknowledged that it has around 83,000 combined pending orders for few of its best selling models like Swift hatchback, DZire sedan and the Ertiga Multi Purpose Vehicle (MUV).
In order to increase its diesel engine production capacity, the auto maker is now employing more than Rs. 1700 crore, which will increase its overall capacity by around 75 per cent. Also, the car maker is looking ahead that its diesel models will contribute close to 43 per cent of its entire sales by the end of 2015. However, it must be noted that the decision to increase the production potential has come at a time when the Indian auto industry is facing not so good times. On the other hand, in such dwindling market condition, a number of auto makers are planning to reduce the production at their manufacturing units.
Also, several key players of the Indian market are also offering their models with a number of freebies and goodies in order to lure the Indian buyers towards their showrooms. It must be noted that the leader of passenger car segment also admitted that it has maintained an inventory of around four to five weeks; however a large number of them is of petrol models. Sources further revealed that the company is anticipating that this stock will come down to three week digit by the end of March 2013, the last of month of ongoing fiscal. For reducing its stock level, the auto maker has already offered several discounts on its few flagship models like Swift and DZire, which might help it to end the ongoing fiscal at a good note.
