What are the plans of Maruti Suzuki on the electrical vehicles (EV) front?

For a long time, Maruti Suzuki had maintained its consistent stand that the EV business did not have a very bright future in India as a standalone model. Ironically, even as Maruti stays sceptical about the future of EVs, its parent Suzuki Motors of Japan plans to build a new factory in Gujarat. This factory will have the sole purpose of manufacturing electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries and hopes to go live with production by the year 2026.

Suzuki of Japan plans to invest a total sum of around Rs.10,400 crore into the EV plant. This investment comes at a time when other auto players in India like Tata Motors, Hyundai, Kia Motors, MG Motors and even Ashok Leyland have been extremely aggressive about the EV opportunity in India. Suzuki also plans to substantially leverage its global tie-up with Toyota to enter the non-IC (internal combustion) engine vehicle franchise in Iindia.