Greater Noida: Expressing confidence in the Indian market, Toshihiro Suzuki, Representative Director and President of Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC), Japan, Wednesday said India has the potential to become the No.1 automotive manufacturer in the world.
His words follow India overtaking Japan recently to become the third-largest automaker globally.
Toshihiro Suzuki, who is on a two-day visit to India, added that while SMC and Maruti Suzuki India are working towards launching electric vehicles (EVs) in India, the company will not be “swayed” by just the EV option.
“India is now number three from the top in the international market in terms of manufacturing automobiles. I think soon there can be a time when India will be positioned as the No.1 manufacturer and Maruti Suzuki and Suzuki as a group would like to capture this opportunity… India has the potential to achieve this,” he said.
Maruti Suzuki India currently contributes about 50-60 per cent to Suzuki’s overall sales, and Toshihiro Suzuki expects this to only go up.
SMC, he added, is also making efforts to expand exports from India.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Auto Expo 2023, where he unveiled the company’s electric SUV eVX to be launched in India in 2025, he said when it comes to tackling the challenge of becoming carbon-neutral, EVs cannot be India’s only option.
“The vehicle launched for the Indian market needs to be very strong and apt for this market. So, SMC does not want to get swayed only by the EV option. There are various other solutions to achieve this goal — for example, improving the fuel efficiency of gasoline vehicles, hybrids, ethanol fuel or CNG. India is a huge country with a variety of users, so we need to have apt vehicles matching the requirements of customers,” Toshihiro Suzuki explained.
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‘Follow rules to ensure safety’
Talking about safety regulations, Toshihiro Suzuki said strengthening them in India would lead to an increase in the price of cars, but it’s an important thing to do.
However, he added, “Whatever devices are there to ensure safety also require particular infrastructure… It is being said that we have to make a lot of investment to ensure safety, but I think there is a way to ensure safety without these investments.”
“Although the Japanese also do not follow 100 per cent of the rules, I think one way to ensure safety is to follow rules. By following basic rules such as maintaining the required speed or not driving on the wrong side, you can still ensure safety,” he added.
Admitting that one of the reasons Maruti Suzuki lost market share in the country was the delay in launch of SUVs, Toshihiro Suzuki said the company is taking action by bringing in more SUVs and trying to recover the market share.
He further said he expects small cars to remain an important category in India as vehicle penetration is still very low in the nation.
“I think, in the future, you might not require big cars, you might require only small cars. I think it can be only the small car which is going to support the mobility of the people,” he added.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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