Maruti Suzuki, India's top carmaker, plans to raise production by up to 75 percent over the next five years in a bid to hold on to its 50 percent market share, the Economic Times reported on Thursday.
"Depending on how the car market performs, we would like to like to reach 1.5 to 1.75 million units a year by 2015," the newspaper quoted Managing Director Shinzo Nakanishi as saying.
By that time the domestic car industry would reach 3 million units and Maruti would be able to safeguard its half market share, he said.
Maruti, which currently has a production capacity of 1 million units a year, said on Tuesday its sales in November jumped 67 percent from a year earlier.
The board of Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, which has a 54.2 percent stake in Maruti, will decide on the investment in January, Nakanishi said.
The capacity addition is expected to be done in phases. The company has 600 acres of land in Manesar in the northern Indian state of Haryana, of which two-thirds is still free.
"We can make two plants producing an additional 600,000 cars in Manesar itself," Nakanishi said.
Maruti is investing about $215 million in expanding and upgrading its plant in Manesar by shifting some capacity from its ageing facility in nearby Gurgaon, which will also be expanded at a cost of 1.5 billion rupees.
Shares in Maruti, which has a market value of $10.1 billion, have more than trebled this year, outperforming the main index that rose about three-quarters, on the back of fast rising sales.
