According to him, CNG and hybrid technology are the areas for which the company will work. “The use of hydrogen is also an interesting alternative and should be considered specially to reduce dependence on importing Lithium,” he said.
According to him, CNG and hybrid technology are the areas for which the company will work. “The use of hydrogen is also an interesting alternative and should be considered specially to reduce dependence on importing Lithium,” he said.

New Delhi: If we can avert the third wave, or substantially reduce its effect, and there are no further waves, economic activities and sale of cars can improve significantly over what was achieved last year, R C Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) told the shareholders in the latest annual report of the company.

“In March 2021 we were quite optimistic about the outlook for FY22. The suddenness and ferocity of the second wave of the pandemic was a surprise to all, and led to lockdowns and restrictions in most parts of the country. The performance in the next three quarters largely depends on how effectively all our citizens follow the government’s advice to get vaccinated and observe safety protocols,” he said.

About the company’s contribution in reducing the carbon footprint, Bhargava said that while the country is working on new technologies to lower the cost of EVs, “the time frame for all of this to happen is not certain but meanwhile we do need to reduce import of oil and harmful emissions”.

According to him, CNG and hybrid technology are the areas for which the company will work. “The use of hydrogen is also an interesting alternative and should be considered specially to reduce dependence on importing Lithium,” he said.

The use of hydrogen is also an interesting alternative and should be considered specially to reduce dependence on importing Lithium,RC Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki

Kenichi Ayukawa, managing director & CEO, MSIL, said, “In FY21, despite overall sales of the Company declining in the domestic market by ~8%, the sales of CNG vehicles grew by nearly 50%. Towards electrification of the powertrain, the Suzuki Motor Corporation, in a joint venture with Toshiba Corporation and Denso Corporation, is setting up India’s first lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant with cell level localisation.”

Suzuki Motor Corporation Japan is giving priority to the development of technologies suitable for the Indian market. “Research and development efforts are being accelerated and your company would be fully involved in this work. Suzuki’s alliance with Toyota in Japan would prove very valuable for this effort,” Bhargava said.

As per Ayukawa, SMC, in its recent mid-term plan, indicated to offer relevant products such as Utility Vehicles (UV) to strengthen the Company’s product lineup, promote the penetration of hybrids and introduce EVs. The partnership between Suzuki Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation will help the company gain access to hybrid technology.

Earlier, the automaker collaborated with Toyota Tsusho Group and established a joint venture named Maruti Suzuki Toyotsu India Private Limited (MSTI) for vehicle dismantling and recycling the facility in India. “The MSTI facility is almost ready to be operationalised and will be announced soon,” Ayukawa noted.

As measured by the CAFÉ regulation, the company’s fleet has the least CO2 emission per vehicle among all car manufacturers in India, Ayukawa.

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Total revenue from operations was at INR 17,776 crore as compared to 4,111 crore in April-June 2020.

While hopes of a good monsoon season and the sequential increase in the month-on-month sales for every segment has been brewing hope for the otherwise stressed automotive industry, the companies note that the fear of COVID third wave still looms large and the supply constraints because of semiconductor shortage are bound to result in waiting periods. Moreover, the industry has a long way to go before it reaches sustained recovery in all the segments.