Maruti Suzuki has announced that its Rs 4000 crore plant in Mehsana district of Gujarat will be ready by 2015. This was confirmed by SY Siddiqui, chief operating officer of MSIL; he said that the plant, to be located at Bechraji, will manufacture 2.5 lakh units annually. This number combined with the capacity of the Gurgaon and Manesar plants (17.5 lakh units per annum) will give MSIL a total capacity of 20 lakh units per annum.
The Indo-Japanese automakers sales rose by 3.2 per cent to 95,145 units for the month of December. In the domestic market it sold 82,073, a six per cent hike as compared to corresponding period in the previous year, however, exports stood at 13,072 units a decline of 11 per cent as compared to December 2011.
The best sellers were the Dzire (13072 units) and the Swift, Estilo and the Ritz (22482 units) while the smaller petrol models the Alto 800, Alto, A-Star, Wagon R fell by 15 per cent to 32, 797 units. The Ertiga MUV led the utility segment which saw massive growth of 5447 units as compared to 328 units a year ago.
In the period April to December 2012 Maruti sold 8.28 lakh units and its sales were up by seven per cent, this despite the month-long lockout at its Manesar plant between July 19 and August 21. Demand for the SX4 sedan continued to be low with sales plunging 61 per cent to 329 units in December. The Eeco and Omni sold 7,897 units totally.
