Tata Motors is the leader in the electric car market with about 62 per cent share.
IMAGE: Maruti Suzuki India MD and CEO Hisashi Takeuchi, right, and Suzuki Motor CEO Toshihiro Suzuki during the launch of ‘eVITARA’ at Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025, in New Delhi, January 17, 2025. Photograph: Amit Sharma/ANI Photo
Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), which unveiled its first electric car eVitara at Bharat Mobility Global Expo on January 17, 2025, is targeting to become the largest electric car producer in India within a year, said its managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) Hisashi Takeuchi.
“Our plan already has three lines, with each having an annual capacity of 250,000 units. The fourth line is to just manufacture EVs,” he told reporters during a media roundtable in New Delhi.
However, he did not specify the capacity of the fourth line.
While refusing to comment on the expected sales numbers of eVitara, he stated: “We are targeting to become number one EV manufacturer within one year.”
He stated that eVitara will first be exported to a few key markets before being put on sale in India.
“eVitara’s production is for the world. A lot of countries are waiting for this product. We need to give priority to them before launching this car in India,” Takeuchi noted.
About 99,165 electric cars were sold in India in 2024, recording 20 per cent year-on-year growth, according to Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (Fada).
Tata Motors is the leader in the electric car market with about 62 per cent share.
He refused to confirm or deny if the company will be producing the cross-badged eVitara for Toyota. “You should ask Toyota about that,” he said.
MSIL is India’s largest carmaker with about 41 per cent share in the domestic passenger vehicle market. Takeuchi said that the company has already invested more than Rs 2,100 crore for manufacturing eVitara in India.
This also includes the expense behind the dedicated EV production line.
“Every manufacturer is thinking on how to bring up (boost) the EV market in India. We think customer’s anxiety and pain points should be removed. In India, the customer has range anxiety and is worried about the lack of charging infrastructure. The third worry is about the residual value of the car,” he stated.
Addressing these concerns, Maruti’s eVitara will be available with a range of more than 500 km, which is “good enough” for the customer.
He said that the company will install fast chargers at its dealerships in top 100 cities across the country in the first phase, and then expand further.
“The idea is that, within these cities, every 5-10 km a customer finds a charging point by MSIL,” he noted.
“To further ensure peace of mind for our customers, we are preparing over 1,500 EV-enabled service workshops in over 1,000 cities. These workshops will have specially-trained manpower and special equipment to provide all EV related support, including charging,” he added.
MSIL has a total 4,500 service workshops across India.
He added that to boost the EV market in India, the aforementioned pain points have to be removed and the choices have to increase.
“Right now, the first set of EV customers will prefer this product eVitara, which is a premium electric SUV.
However, there are many other segments, whether smaller like hatchbacks or bigger like multipurpose vehicles (MPVs), which need electric products. To further increase the sales of EVs in India, the customers need to be provided choices,” he stated.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
