Maruti plans to build stockyards in Bengal, Gujarat.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the country's largest passenger carmaker, will build two massive vehicle stockyards, one each in Gujarat and West Bengal. This is expected to reduce delivery period from seven days to one.

'In some ways, they act as additional factories for us. Earlier, we used to transport cars from Gurgoan against orders which would take at least six to seven days for delivery to the customers,' the company's managing executive officer for marketing and sales, Mayank Pareek, told Business Line.

Maruti Suzuki already has two stockyards in the country. One is located near Bangalore, which caters to the southern market, and the other in Nagpur, which takes care of the western market.

Each of these stockyards can stock over 10,000 vehicles and is spread across 140 acres. Depending on the land prices, they cost between Rs. 100 crore and Rs.150 crore. These stockyards also double up as spare part warehouses. Pareek said Maruti Suzuki is building its own car crash testing site in Rohtak, Haryana, along with its R&D centre there.

The first phase of the centre has already been set up. The total cost of the centre is about Rs. 2,500 crore.

HBL