Ahmedabad:

Managing Director and CEO of Maruti Suzuki, Kenichi Ayukawa today said that no-body knows as to how much time the sluggish Indian automobile market would take to come out of the ongoing slowdown.

Ayukawa, who was here to participate in the 2nd Automotive Components Manufacturers Association of India (AMCA) Value Chain Summit, termed the current situation a difficult one and expressed hope that it would be overcome.
He however told newsmen that though his company and other auto sector players were trying their best yet no body knows as to when this sluggish phase would go.
‘No body really knows. We are trying and doing our best,’ he said when asked how how long will the Indian automobile market take to come out of the current slowdown.
To another query about the expansion plans of the company’s plant in Gujarat in these challenging times, Ayukawa said that the third unit of the plant was under construction which would finish next year ie 2020 and was expected to become operational taking the total production capacity in the plant from current 5 lakh units to 7.5 lakh units.

He emphasized on the need to localize the auto component supply segment and put these units closer to the main vehicle plants to bring the cost down to fight the demand downturn. Ayukawa also praised the Gujarat government for its good policies.
Agreeing that the electric vehicles were of-course a challenge for the current auto industry he however said that it would take quite some time for such vehicles to compete strongly with the current ones. ‘Even though the government has issued guidelines, it would take at least 5 to 10 years for the electric vehicles to see their large scale production,’ he added.

DeshGujarat