Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), which witnessed troubles at its Manesar plant in July this year, has started manufacturing its much in demand Maruti Suzuki Swift DZire at the Gurgaon plant. The move was taken by the car maker in order to clear the compact sedan's pre-bookings, which stands around 65,000 units.
The company, which has not yet completely come out of the violence that took place at its Manesar unit said that it was looking forward to increasing the overall production of cars by 10 per cent before the end of the current fiscal.
The auto giant was earlier busy in bringing out the old version of DZire from its Gurgaon plant, whereas its new model was being manufactured at the Manesar plant.
Talking to Press Trust of India (PTI) on the annual convention of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the Chief Operating officer (Supply Chain) of MSIL, S Maitra said, “Now the Gurgaon plant has also started manufacturing the new DZire after the lockout at the Manesar plant was lifted. We are doing this because we have a big backlog and a long waiting list. We want to clear it.”
The new DZire is among the best selling models from the car maker's stable and there are over 65,000 bookings of the compact sedan, which are to be delivered within the next 4-5 months.
Violence at the auto maker's Manesar plant on July 18, which killed one senior company official and left over 100s injured, had resulted in a month-long lockout and affected the overall production of company's vehicles, resulting in company's failure to meet the surge in demands.
According to MSIL's Chief Operating Officer (production), M M Singh, the Manesar plant and the Gurgaon plant at present are producing 250 units each every day. “Last year we had a total production of one million units and this year we are looking at 10 per cent more”, he said when asked about the overall target of the company this year.
Maitra said that the company expects to regain the full employee strength at the Manesar facility by the end of September this year, wherein the company, prior to the violence, had around 3,300 workers. However, after lockout, 500 employees at the Manesar plant were fired and the company had said that contract workers who were involved in the riot would be also kept away from the pay roll. Sources familiar with the matter said the company is not considering to take back the fired employees.
