Maruti Suzuki, as we all know, is the undisputed king of the Indian car scene. Even though it has a massive production capacity spread across three facilities, it still faces the plague of more demand and less supply with its superhit models. To get at par with the consumer needs, the company has now opened a second production line in its Gujarat facility. The newly inaugurated line has an annual production capacity of 2.5 lakh units and has already begun operations with the Swift hatchback.

Alongside the second production line for cars, Maruti Suzuki’s powertrain plant has also gone operational. The latter can produce 2.5 lakh units of the 1.2-litre petrol engine and 1.6 lakh units of two transmission types – the 5-speed manual and AGS (Auto Gear Shift). The construction of the powertrain plant and the second production line for cars was underway when the first production line within the same facility went operational in February 2017. That production line is currently producing the Baleno and Swift models.

Maruti Suzuki wants aims to sell 25 lakh per annum by the end of the 2022-23 FY. For that, it needs to make at least as many cars. With the production capacities of all the lines at Gurugram, Manesar and Hansalpur, Gujarat put together, the carmaker can now roll out 20 lakh vehicles per annum. Next year, that figure will jump up again as a third production line in Gujarat is also being constructed.

India is Suzuki’s biggest car market in the world. Last year, the company sold 17.5 lakh units and produced 18.7 lakh units on our shores. The Japanese want to continue dominating the Indian car market and, by the end of the next decade, it wants to sell 50 lakh units in India every year. In the EV (electric vehicle) space, Maruti Suzuki has currently deployed 50 test mules on the Indian roads and aims to sell around 35,000 e-cars in the 2020-21 fiscal year.