Maruti-Suzuki to invest Rs 2,000 cr in Gurgaon facility

Indore: Car major Maruti Suzuki Saturday said it plans to invest Rs 2,000 crore in diesel engine manufacturing facility at its Gurgaon plant to meet the demand for Swift and Desire models.

The company would manufacture 1.5 lakh diesel engines for Swift and Desire in the current year to meet the growing demand, Shashank Srivastava, chief general manager (marketing), told reporters here after launching the new model Ertiga in Madhya Pradesh here.

To a question whether the hike in excise duty by 2 percent had any impact on car sales, CGM said it was across the board for every sector. The car production in last FY was 26.2 lakhs, against 25.2 lakhs in FY 2010-11, he pointed out.

In the last three months of 2011-12, 50 percent of the cars sold were diesel engine ones, which was much higher than the expected, he said.


To another question, he said the company would start exporting Ertiga to south east Asia, mainly Indonesia, by April end.

In rhe recent years, Multi-Purpose Vehicles have emerged as the fastest growing sub-segment among UVs (utility vehicles), with a growth of around 20 percent, he said. MPVs presently account for around 10 percent share of the Indian automobile industry, he added.