Trial production underway at Suzuki's Gujarat plant - Report

Will start with the roll out of the Maruti Baleno.

The construction of Suzuki's new manufacturing plant in Gujarat has completed and trial production is now underway, reports Autocar India. The initial capacity is set at 2,50,000 units which will be supplied to Maruti Suzuki India as well as exported.

The inauguration of the Sanand plant will have Maruti breathe a sigh of relief given that its plants in Gurgaon and Manesar are running at full capacity yet cannot fully meet market demand. The Gujarat plant will start to roll out the Maruti Baleno, which currently has a waiting period of 6 months on some variants. The production ramp up of the Sanand plant will free up capacity in the other Maruti plants, which can be diverted for another top-selling product like the Vitara Brezza.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) Chairman Mr RC Bhargava had earlier divulged to the media that the company will receive about 10,000 units of the Maruti Baleno from Suzuki’s Gujarat plant this financial year. In the next FY, Maruti is expected to put the next generation Maruti Swift Dzire and Swift hatchback into production in Gujarat, and reports even suggest that the third plant will be one of Ignis's production hubs.

The plant will have a maximum production capacity of 7,50,000 cars a year. A second assembly line is also in the works at an investment of INR 8500 crores, which is expected to commence operations in 2019. Overall, Maruti expects to churn out 1.5 million cars a year from Gujarat by the end of the decade.

[Source: Autocar India]