New Delhi. Maruti Suzuki India Limited MD and CEO Hisashi Takeuchi on Thursday expressed hope that the right balance between regulations and affordable prices will be maintained in future also. He said that this will ensure that Indian customers continue to have access to safe and clean mobility.
In his speech at the annual conference of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Takeuchi also stressed that compressed biogas (CBG) has great potential in India as the country has abundant cattle dung, biomass and agricultural waste that can be converted into clean automotive fuel.
“Owning a car is still a big aspiration for millions of Indian families. It gives them greater safety, convenience and comfort. That's why affordability is important,” he said.
Takeuchi said the small car segment has declined significantly over the past several years as regulations made it difficult for first-time buyers to afford a car as costs increased.
Pointing out that the recent GST reforms have shown the power of affordability, he said, “In the first four months of this financial year, small cars falling in the 18% GST bracket have seen a strong growth of about 30%, while those in the 40% GST bracket have seen a growth of about 20%.”
He further added, “Among small cars, entry-level cars recorded a remarkable growth of almost 100%, making mobility accessible and affordable for many first-time car buyers.”
Thanking the government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other government officials for the GST reforms, he said, “I hope that in the future also we will be able to maintain the right balance between rules and affordable prices.” He said this will be important to ensure that millions of Indian families continue to have access to safe and clean mobility.
On sustainable mobility, he reiterated the company's multi-technology path, which includes electric vehicles, hybrids, biofuels like CNG and CBG (compressed biogas) and ethanol.
He said that CBG has huge potential in India as the country has abundant cattle dung, biomass and agricultural waste, which can be converted into clean automotive fuel. He said that apart from being carbon negative, “it reduces the problem of stubble burning, which improves air quality. It is completely self-sufficient and creates income and employment opportunities in rural India.”
He informed that Suzuki is already working on making biogas in India and three biogas plants running on cow dung are already operational. He further said, “Apart from this, plans are underway to build seven more plants based on cow dung and four biogas plants related to agriculture.”
Takeuchi said that during the recent India-Japan annual summit, the Prime Ministers of both the countries had agreed to increase the production of biogas by setting up 1,000 biogas plants in India. Regarding electric vehicles, he said Suzuki has made India a global manufacturing hub for e-VITARA, 46,000 units of which have already been exported to 50 countries including UK, Europe and Japan.
Takeuchi said, “This makes us the largest BEV exporter from India with a share of more than 90 percent. This is a great example of India's potential to become a global manufacturing base for advanced and sustainable mobility technologies.”
Pointing out that India has made good progress towards clean mobility, he said, “If we look at the April to July period last year, clean technologies like EV, hybrid and CNG contributed about 27 per cent to the total industry sales. This year it has increased to 32 per cent.”
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