Suzuki to introduce its first EV by 2025, set for India

Suzuki is planning to introduce its first all-electric vehicle by fiscal 2025, with the new EV model set to be first released in India before it makes its way to Japan and Europe. According to the Nikkei, the company’s EV debutant will go for 1.5 million yen (RM57,600) or less after government subsidies are taken into account.

The Japanese automaker’s move towards electrification comes after it said it would be investing one trillion yen (RM38.5 billion) by March 2026 into the research and development of EVs. The company has already been offering hybrid cars in India as part of that shift, but it is arriving later than other domestic automakers into the game.

Nonetheless, movement is ramping up, with battery production plans also under way. A battery plant that the company is building in Gujarat, India with car parts maker Denso and Toshiba is expected to open in September, and this will produce lithium-ion batteries for its hybrid models.

News reports elsewhere indicate that the new model, likely to be a compact hatchback or small SUV, is set to be developed together with Toyota, which Suzuki has a broad-ranging partnership with. The brand currently has a market share of about 50% in India, and is looking to maintain its competitive edge in the market by adding EVs to its lineup.

Sales of EVs have been slow in India, the world’s fifth-largest auto market, but the country has ambitions to have 30% of its new car sales being electric models by 2030. In 2019, the government began offering incentives worth 100 billion rupees (RM5.6 billion) to EV buyers over a three-year period starting in 2019. Last month, it announced that the incentive measures would be extended for two more years.

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