Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor Corporation has announced that it will be setting up a new manufacturing facility in Myanmar, under its subsidiary Suzuki Thilawa Motor. This will be the company’s third facility in Myanmar and will be located in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone, southeast of Yangon. At present, Suzuki produces the Carry LCV, Ciaz, Ertiga and Swift cars at the existing plants. The new production facility will have provisions for welding, painting and assembling vehicles, and will have a manufacturing capacity of 40,000 vehicles annually.
Suzuki will be investing about $109 million in the upcoming Myanmar plant and will be ready by September 2021 for operations. The manufacturer first set shop in Myanmar in 1998 as part of a joint venture and has been retailing its range of four-wheelers and two-wheelers from 1999. With a growing economy in the region, the automaker has seen a steady hike in its sales volumes.
Suzuki produced about 13,300 units in 2019 in Myanmar, a 125 percent year-on-year growth over 2018. Sales, on the other hand, stood at 13,206 units, growing at 128 percent year-on-year. Much like India, the Japanese auto giant is a market leader in the neighboring country and accounts for about 60 percent of the market share in four-wheeler sales.