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Maruti Suzuki expects the e Vitara to become the largest electric car mass-produced and exported from India; domestic market launch on the cards
At Maruti Suzuki’s Gujarat plant in Hansalpur, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched two major milestones: the start of production of Maruti Suzuki’s first battery electric vehicle, the e Vitara, and the country’s first locally made lithium-ion battery cells and electrodes for hybrid vehicles emphasising the government’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision.
The ceremony was attended by leaders from India and Japan including Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Japan’s Ambassador to India Keiichi Ono, Suzuki Motor Corporation president Toshihiro Suzuki, Maruti Suzuki chairman R.C. Bhargava and managing director Hisashi Takeuchi. The e Vitara has both global and local significance for India’s largest carmaker.
Underpinned by a dedicated skateboard EV platform, its production has already begun and the first batch of cars is heading out this month from Pipavav port in Gujarat to Europe with markets such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, France and the Netherlands on the list. Maruti Suzuki expects the e Vitara to become the largest electric car mass-produced and exported from India as well.
Also Read: Maruti Suzuki Fronx Achieves 5 Lakh Production Milestone in Just Over 2 Years
For years, India has been seen largely as an assembler for global auto brands but Maruti Suzuki looks to change the narrative. Built in Gujarat but bound for over 100 countries, the midsize electric SUV will be equipped with two battery packs. The larger unit will boast a claimed driving range of more than 500 km between charges and it will support fast charging too.
Equally significant is the parallel breakthrough in batteries. TDS Lithium-ion Battery Gujarat, a subsidiary of Maruti Suzuki, has started local production of lithium-ion cells and electrodes, making it the first company in India to achieve electrode-level localisation. India will no longer have to entirely dependent on imported cells for hybrid electric vehicles.
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The first use of these batteries will be in Maruti Suzuki’s strong hybrid SUVs including the popular Grand Vitara. Suzuki’s investments in India have already crossed one lakh crore rupees – creating more than 11 lakh direct jobs across the value chain. Since 2017, the Hansalpur plant has rolled out millions of cars and earlier this year it became the fastest Suzuki subsidiary to reach four million units of cumulative production.
It currently builds the Baleno, Swift, Fronx and now the e Vitara with a new EV-dedicated Plant D on the way. TDSG, meanwhile, has been supplying mild hybrid batteries since 2021 and has already powered more than a million cars. In a global auto industry where EV leadership is often associated with China, Europe, or the US, India is now showing that it can design, build, and export advanced clean vehicles at scale.
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