Osamu Suzuki, Chairman and CEO of Suzuki Motor Corporation, is expected to visit India early this month to coincide with the company's annual general body meeting, it is learnt.
This will be Mr. Suzuki's second visit to India this year. He was here in March when the company rolled out a record millionth car.
During the visit, Mr Suzuki is expected to take stock of `exciting times' that the company and the industry face. Mr Suzuki, who had committed to make India an R&D hub for small cars, is also expected to take stock of the ambitious R&D centre that is coming up at Rohtak, Haryana.
The company has seen unprecedented demand for its new models such as Ritz, Eeco, new WagonR and Alto-K10. The company has grown over 25 per cent as against an industry projection of 12-15 per cent growth levels for the year. Maruti Suzuki is producing 20 per cent above current capacity.
The company is stretching further to make more cars from its existing facilities. In the first six months, MSIL has made 25 per cent more cars as compared to the first-half of last fiscal.
Notwithstanding this, almost all models are under a waiting period.
“These waiting customers translate into a big lost opportunity,” sources said. The fact is that all Maruti Suzuki launches in the past year, except Grand Vitara, are highly successful. These have waiting period ranging from a few days (Ritz, WagonR and Alto) to a few months (Eeco and Swift Dzire). Against this backdrop, Mr. Suzuki's upcoming India visit has elicited more than cursory curiousness in industry circles.
