Maruti Suzuki has announced that it will ramp up production at its Manesar Plant by commissioning a third assembly line by the end of the year. According to a report by Business Standard, the indo-Japanese automaker with the added capacity will be able to produce an additional 250, 000 units over the current capacity of 1.5 million cars per annum.
The move to expand capacity is in line with the MSIL goals to increase production of diesel engined vehicles by 16 per cent for the next financial year. This year the company is expected to sell 400, 000 diesel cars and aims to increase this number to 465, 000 by the end of 2014. The company has admitted that it has 83, 000 combined pending orders for the Swift, Dzire and the Ertiga MUV. It is now investing over Rs 1700 crore to increase its diesel engine manufacturing capacity by around 75 per cent and has predicted that diesel powered cars will contribute to 43 per cent of overall volumes by 2015.
However, it must be noted that the decision to expand capacity has taken place at a time when the car industry is facing one of its worst slowdowns. Most manufacturers have been reducing output at their plants and are offering their vehicles with discounts or benefits in a bid to re-align their stock with the existing demand. Even Maruti has admitted that it has a stock of four to five weeks of production but has said that they are mostly petrol cars and that this number will reduce to a three week stock by the end of the month.
The company is also expected to start work on a new facility in Gujarat. This is expected to include an engine plant as a well as training facility.
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