SMC announces Rs 3,000 cr fresh investment in India till 2010

New Delhi, Sept 7 (UNI) Suzuki Maruti Corporation (SMC) today said it will invest an additional Rs 3,000 crore by the year 2010 for expanding its operations in India.

With the announcement of this fresh investment, SMC is planning a total of Rs 9,000 crore investment in the next five years, including the Rs 6,000 crore investment it had announced in March last year.

''We are getting technical assistance from Fiat Motors for manufacturing diesel engines and have started construction of the plant at Manesar at an investmet of Rs 2,500 crore till 2010.

Production at this plant will begin from December this year with an initial capacity of 1,00,000 diesel engines,'' SMC CEO and Chairman O Suzuki told reporters here.

Besides the company has also announced a Rs 2,500 crore investment by 2010 for a four-wheeler plant in Manesar, which will manufacture 1 Lakh 'Swift' cars this year. Moreover, SMC will be manufacturing 1 lakh small cars for exports to Europe, as well as 50,000 units to cater to the domestic market.

The production of this unit will start from October.

SMC will be supplying as Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), 50,000 small cars to Japanese auto major Nissan Motor Co for exports to Europe, taking the total vehicles exported to Europe to 1,50,000.

The total capacity of the plant will be 3 lakh units annually.

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