Hansalpur: Automobile giant Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) is preparing to commence operations at its new electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing facility in Gujarat in 2024–25,  said a senior executive of the company.

Rahul Bharti, the Executive Director of Corporate Affairs at MSIL, stated that the company’s first EV plant will be established in Gujarat as an additional assembly line within its existing facility at Suzuki Motor Gujarat (SMG) in Hansalpur, located approximately 90 km from Ahmedabad.

Bharti shared, “We have invested Rs 3,100 crore to set up this plant. It is part of the investments worth Rs 10,500 crore we plan to make here. Our first EV—a sports utility vehicle (SUV)—will be manufactured at this plant.” He added that the high-specification SUV is designed to have a range of 550km on a single charge and a battery capacity of 60 kWH. The announcement comes after the recent revelation of the concept vehicle by MSIL.

He highlighted that the EV SUV produced here at the Hansalpur plant would also be exported. Bharti noted that in March 2022, SMC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the state government to invest Rs 3,100 crore in the Hansalpur plant for EV manufacturing.

Bharti mentioned that at present, the Hansalpur facility operates three assembly lines with a production capacity of 7.5 lakh units per annum, and these lines are nearly operating at full capacity. Additionally, on December 4, the SMG plant achieved a cumulative production milestone of 30 lakh units. He further stated that at least 50% of the cars exported by MSIL are manufactured at the SMG plant in Gujarat.

The board of directors at MSIL recently gave their approval for the acquisition of SMG from Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) in Japan. Formerly a fully owned subsidiary of SMC, SMG is now under the ownership of Maruti Suzuki. DeshGujarat