New Maruti Suzuki Gujarat Plant To Help Meet Demand For Baleno, Brezza

Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza and Baleno have received abundant demand since their respective launches in the country. The compact SUV, launched here in March, managed to make its way among the top 10 selling passenger vehicles by May. The hatchback, on the other hand, crossed the 75,000 mark in India in less than 9 months. Unfortunately, Maruti Suzuki has been struggling to meet the demand for the two cars. Currently, the Vitara Brezza's waiting period borders 8 - 9 months and that for the Maruti Suzuki Baleno is nearly 6 - 8 months.

Add to that the fact that the automaker is gearing up to bring in the more powerful Baleno RS and the all-new Ignis soon and it becomes obvious that Maruti is likely to have a tough time servicing demand. However, if media reports are anything to go by, the company is currently putting together plans that will not only bring down the waiting period for the Baleno and the Vitara Brezza, but will also ease the pressure off its plants in Gurgaon and Manesar. We hear that Maruti Suzuki intends to to start trial production of the Baleno hatchback at its upcoming facility in Hansalpur, Gujarat from the first quarter of 2017. Though we are yet to receive official confirmation, there is no denying that such a move will definitely aid the supply of its cars in the market.

Maruti Suzuki Ignis

Mr R S Kalsi, Executive Director, Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki India, had earlier said that the company is working to "de-bottleneck the lines and enhance production". In a recent interview at the celebration of the first anniversary of Nexa dealerships, he said, "We feel bad, embarrassed as we don't want our customers to wait for long. Now we are focusing on capacity enhancement."

Kalsi said that Baleno's production is 'going up' from 8,000 units per month to 12,000 units. As far as the Vitara Brezza is concerned, while the SUV's production started at 8,000 units per month, it has already been increased to over 10,000 units. He explained that ramping up production is a gradual process - it involves much more than just the OEM and may require suppliers to double their capacity investment to tend for 20 per cent additional volume. He clarified that the automaker is negotiating with its suppliers and that such issues are expected to be resolved with the start of production at the Gujarat plant next year.