COVID-19: Suzuki Motorcycles project to ramp up production gets delayed by up to 18 mths

Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd (SMIPL), the wholly-owned two-wheeler arm of Japans Suzuki Motor Corporation, is delaying its project to ramp up production to 10 lakh units per annum by up to one-and-a-half years because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to a top company official.

The company, however, is optimistic that its sales in the domestic market this fiscal will be “slightly better” than last fiscal when sales had dropped by 23.90 per cent compared to 2019-20.

SMIPL, which had shut its plant for three weeks from April 28 due to oxygen supply constraints, is now coordinating with group firm Maruti Suzuki to address the issue, particularly those of its critical vendors, having resumed production from May 17.

“Because of the COVID-19, starting from last year our project is slightly delayed. Originally we were expecting more progress in these two years but because of COVID-19 the market hasnt grown as expected… Earlier we had planned to enhance production capacity up to one million in this year but physically it is impossible in terms of number of sales,” newly appointed SMIPL Company Head Satoshi Uchida told

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