Maruti to go ahead with expansion plans

Mumbai: India's leading car maker, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) has no plans to cut production despite the challenging market conditions and would go ahead with its expansion plans in the months ahead, a top company official said.

“We are not seeking any production cut and have no plans to change production schedule in January. The sales have gone up in December, 2008 as compared to the previous month owing to excise cut and reduction in petrol prices,” MSIL's Managing Director and CEO, Mr Shinzo Nakanishi said.

The company has plans to expand its production capacity of its Manesar plant in Haryana to three lakh units by end-January, Mr Nakanishi said.

“Our car manufacturing capacity at Manesar will reach three lakh units this month from 1.7 lakh in January 2007,” Mr Nakanishi said.

Commenting on the capex plans, Mr Nakanishi said, “We have committed an investment of Rs 9,000 crore, of which we have already invested Rs 6,000 crore to fuel the business growth.”

The company proposes to invest Rs 2,500 crore in increasing diesel engine capacity from one lakh to three lakh units, a company official said.

Maruti has re-started its small car exports to Europe after a gap of four years and hopes to export 1.5 lakh cars in 2010-2011.