Maruti Suzuki plans on creating an electric car for India
India's largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki has revealed its plan of entering Indian electric car market. Earlier it had announced that it intends to set-up a Lithium Ion battery manufacturing facility in India for a cost of Rs. 1,200 crore; that's the most expensive component of an e-car. The Center aims to turn India into an all-electric car market by 2030. Here's more.
Going electric to curb pollution
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) influenced the NDA government to draft the policy of making India an all electric car market by 2030. To encourage this, the government has set the GST rate for electric cars to 12% while they have increased the GST and cess for hybrid cars to 43%. The carmakers have taken note and now Maruti Suzuki has revealed its plan.
What's it all about?
Maruti Suzuki said that OEM suppliers Denso and Toshiba will assist the firm in making components for its ambitious electric car project. R.C. Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki, said, "The government has announced a program to rapidly promote the use of EVs. It is a very laudable policy, as it will greatly enhance the usage and, over time, lead to a cleaner environment."
When can we know more?
The nitty-gritty of the technical aspects will become more evident in the coming months but according to reports, this offing by Maruti Suzuki will fall under the budget-car segment and will be priced somewhere between Rs. 5 lakh and Rs. 10 lakh. As the firm enjoys the widest and largest service network in India, it'll be easier for them to set up charging facilities.
Maruti wants to sell two million vehicles yearly, by 2020
Sales of Maruti Suzuki's cars have been growing in double-digits annually. In July out of 2.98 lakh cars, which were sold in the Indian domestic market, Maruti Suzuki sold over 1.53 lakh cars. Bhargava said that the firm intends to have an annual sale of two million vehicles by 2020, which shouldn't be difficult considering it has sold 1.44m units in India during 2016-17.
Other EV makers
Among its competitors, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) already produces EVs, however, their production scale is limited. Tata Motors has been rumored to be developing an electric car of its own and Hyundai also intends to introduce e-cars in the country in the near future. On the global front, both Tesla and Mercedes Benz have asked for sops to bring electric cars in India.
