New Delhi: Country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India
Ltd (MSIL) yesterday said it would most likely launch an electric
vehicle in India by 2020, but sought the intervention of the government
for the commercial success of such a rollout.
Speaking at the year-end meeting, MSIL chairman RC Bhargava said government policy and intervention on incentivising the rollout of the electric vehicles would be important not only to keep the prices down but to make use of such vehicles by customers a commercial success.
Bhargava said though the MoU had been signed by the two Japanese
automobile giants, the modalities of the manufacture of the EVs were
still to be worked out.
He said, “The Toyota-Suzuki JV is beneficial to Maruti, as it will allow
the company to provide electric vehicles for the Indian market.
While Toyota and Suzuki have the technology for developing electric vehicles, Maruti doesn’t. This JV will help us bridge that gap and work towards a common goal of electrifying the Indian automobile industry”. However, he stressed the EVs for India would be manufactured by MSIL domestically and the company would also sell and service these vehicles.