GREATER NOIDA, India -- Suzuki Motor's Indian unit unveiled the eVX concept electric SUV at India's biennial car show, with the automaker's president saying the production car would be launched in 2025.
"I am delighted to unveil the eVX, a concept SUV of our first global strategic EV. We plan to bring it to market by 2025," said Suzuki Motor President Toshihiro Suzuki, speaking at an auto show event on the outskirts of the capital city of New Delhi.
The compact vehicle will be powered by a 60-kilowatt hour battery pack offering up to 550 km (342 miles) of driving range, according to Maruti Suzuki India.
Suzuki Motor has said it will spend more than 104 billion rupees ($1.3 billion) on its electrification push in India, including a battery plant for EVs starting 2026, making it one of its biggest battery and electric vehicle investments globally.
Toshihiro Suzuki also said the automaker plans to learn about technologies for smaller EVs from partner Toyota.
Maruti faces growing competition from rivals as buyers shift to bigger cars such as SUVs and regulators demand safer and greener cars, increasing costs. This has pushed its market share to below 43 percent, down from over 50 percent in 2019.
Electrification is also seen as a challenge for the automaker that wants New Delhi to incentivize all cleaner technologies, including hybrid and ethanol, and not just EVs.
"We believe that deployment of multiple technologies ... will help to achieve the national goal of lowering emissions and oil consumption," said Hisashi Takeuchi, managing director, Maruti Suzuki India.
India is pushing automakers to build more EVs by offering companies billions of dollars in incentives with a lofty target of a market share of 30 percent for EVs by 2030.
Currently, EVs make up less than 1 percent of total car sales in India.
