Fed up of the continuous strikes at its Gurgaon and Manesar plants, India’s largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki is looking to set up its new plant outside of its typical bastion. If sources are to be believed, Haryana would no longer be part of Maruti’s expansion plans and it is very likely that the next plant would be setup in Gujarat. Due to these continuous strikes, Maruti has already lost their customer base as also sales. Not only this, there were also reports of workers sabotaging some of the cars and customers receiving lemons.
Delivery schedules have been also vastly affected due to this strikes and customers are wary of booking Maruti cars. Narendra Modi, the CM of Gujarat reportedly had a meeting with Suzuki’s Chairman Osamu Suzuki and it is said that they have reportedly agreed on a certain plot covering 1000 acres and Maruti Suzuki plan to invest about Rs 18 crores for building up an all new plant there. This move by Suzuki would affect the real estate prices around Gurgaon. Haryana, as a state stands to suffer more in the future with another automobile major, Honda moving onto newer pastures with the labour unrests happening in their plant as well. The Gujarat site that Maruti have chosen for their new plant would only be fully functional by 2015 and by 2020; it would have an annual production capacity encompassing 1 million units.
