Suzuki and Toyota team up for their first EV, with Maruti Suzuki producing the electric SUV in India by 2025 at its Gujarat plant.
First EV Collaboration
Suzuki Motor’s Indian unit will provide Toyota Motor with its first electric vehicle, the two companies announced in a statement on Wednesday, marking their first green vehicle collaboration. Maruti Suzuki, which is majority-owned by Suzuki Motor, will begin producing the EV in spring 2025 at its plant in Gujarat, western India. According to the statement, Suzuki, Toyota, and Daihatsu Motor collaborated on the development of the EV.
“We would like to learn from each other’s strengths, compete, and expand joint efforts using a multi-pathway approach,” Toyota President Koji Sato stated. Suzuki and Toyota had previously worked together on combustion fuel and hybrid vehicles, but not EVs.
India’s EV Hub
The move also establishes India as an EV hub for Suzuki, which intends to invest more than a billion dollars in India, its largest market outside of Japan. Suzuki and Toyota do not sell EVs in India. However, they do provide hybrids developed by the latter. The EV, or sport utility vehicle, will have a 60-kWh battery pack and a range of 500 kilometres (311 miles). Last year’s India auto show featured a concept version of the EV.
Global EV Strategy
According to a Toyota spokeswoman, the new model will be one of ten battery-powered vehicles that the world’s largest automaker aims to introduce by 2026. There are no plans to produce the EV elsewhere other than the Gujarat plant. Toyota announced earlier Wednesday that it sold just over 108,000 battery-powered electric vehicles worldwide in the first nine months of the year, accounting for 1.5 per cent of total global sales, including those from its luxury Lexus brand.
Expanded Production
Maruti Suzuki intends to install a fourth production line in the Gujarat factory, capable of producing 250,000 EVs each year. It previously stated that it intends to deliver the EV globally, including to its Japanese parent and European markets.
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