Japan's Suzuki Motors to Produce EVs in India

Suzuki Motor of Japan will begin making electric vehicles in India and ship them to Japan as early as 2025, according to the Nikkei newspaper on Oct 18. It may contemplate exporting India-made EVs to partner Toyota Motor for European markets, which would be sold under the Toyota brand, as part of its efforts to make India its worldwide electric car production base, according to the Nikkei.

Suzuki did not respond to the report. Toyota, which owns 4.9% of Suzuki, did not respond quickly. According to Nikkei, Suzuki will establish a new production line at a plant in Gujarat, India's westernmost state, where its affiliate Maruti Suzuki will begin production next autumn.

The battery-powered cars that Suzuki plans to export to Japan would be small sports utility vehicles and would have a price tag of around 3 million yen (USD 20,043) to 4 million yen, Nikkei said. The production line would also make gasoline-powered cars and would reach an expected capacity of 250,000 units a year, the newspaper added