Click it and Unblock the Notifications
Volkswagen To Imbibe Manufacturing & Design Facilities
Volkswagen and Suzuki are making a new small car as part of joint development. This car will most probably be produced in Maruti's new plant facility at Manesar. Both automakers are likely to work together at Maruti-Suzuki's new plant at Manesar. VW intends to use this production facility to raise its presence and market share in India.
Volkswagen India chief Mueller has gone on record to say that the company is looking at capturing an 8% market share in the next 3-4 years when the Indian car market is expected to reach 3 million. This means around 2.5 lakh cars per annum while VW's total capacity stands at only 1.1 lakh. It will take another 2-3 years to harness the entire installed capacity and VW is looking at getting the numbers from Maruti, said a person close to the development.
When contacted Maruti-Suzuki chairman RC Bhargava said that the decision for any tie-up with Volkswagen would be taken by Suzuki Motor Corp and Maruti has no role in that and any relationship would be guided by the parent company and the new capacities could well be taken up by the local demand which Maruti is struggling to meet.
Suzuki chief Osamu Suzuki had earlier said that they are looking at designing of components to start with but remained silent when asked how the partnership would grow.
VW and Maruti-Suzuki are also looking at contract manufacturing relationships like the one that Maruti currently shares with Nissan. Under the agreement, up for renewal this year, Nissan sources Maruti's A-Star small car from its Manesar factory and sells them as Nissan Pixo in Europe. In December 2009, VW, Europe's largest car maker, agreed to buy a 19.9% stake in Maruti Suzuki's Japanese parent for .5 billion, which could boost the German company's fortune in India and open up millions of dollars of business opportunities for auto parts suppliers.
Maruti Suzuki, proposed sixth plant, with a total investment of Rs 1,925 crore, will help the firm produce an additional 2.5 lakh cars by 2013, taking the total capacity to 17.5 lakh. It plans to sell over 15 lakh cars in India besides exporting 15% of what it produces by 2015. Indian car sales are expected to double to over 30 lakh units in five years, as per the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
Continue with Google