Maruti Suzuki to produce 1.5 million electrified vehicles by 2031

Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest carmaker, has announced its new vision called Maruti Suzuki 3.0. This envisages that the company will produce over 15 lakh electrified vehicles by FY31 (April 2030-March 2031). Maruti also aims to have a portfolio of 28 vehicles by the end of this business plan, including half a dozen EVs.

1. Maruti aims to produce 40 lakh units by 2031
2. Will launch six EVs by 2031

The carmaker also plans to produce over 40 lakh vehicles annually by 2031, of which about 15 percent – six lakh units – will be EVs, with hybrids making up about 10 lakh units. This is a 75 percent jump in production capacity over the current 22.5 lakh units. The company also expects its export volume to jump three times to 7.5 lakh units by FY31. Maruti plans to earmark 32 lakh units out of the increased output for the domestic market, and it hopes hybrids and EVs account for about 40 percent of this output – over 12 lakh units.

Explaining Maruti 3.0, chairman R C Bhargava said that the first phase was when Maruti Suzuki was a public enterprise. The second phase ended with the COVID-19 pandemic when the Indian car market became the third largest in the world.

Challenges in producing 40 lakh cars annually

"The challenges before the company are unprecedented," Bhargava writes in the letter addressing the shareholders. "It took us 40 years to create a capacity of 2 million units and SMC (Suzuki Motor Company) helped in this process by establishing the Gujarat facility." Bhargava adds that the task of managing all the issues relating to the production target requires reorganisation of the company, keeping in view the interests of the shareholders and stakeholders. "We will, as soon as possible, announce what we are proposing," he said.

Bhargava stated that the challenge in front of the company is not only to produce 40 lakh cars a year but also sell them. He added that the development of electric vehicles is on track at the Gujarat facility, and the company expects to sell its first EV in 2024-25.

Six EVs by 2031

"By 2030-31 we expect to have six EV models, and these are expected to comprise 15-20 percent of our total sales. The conditions in India require that the attainment of carbon neutrality in the transportation sector should be achieved by a mix of technologies that are appropriate to our resource endowment and economic conditions," he explained.

He feels that the industry must use the enormous amount of animal waste that is generated in the country. Equally large is the opportunity created by agriculture as well as the potential to increase the output from our land resources.

"The use of hybrid technology, ethanol, compressed bio-gas and CNG will help us reduce our carbon footprint faster than relying only on any one technology," he added.