Modi Celebrates Suzuki Motor's EV Shipments
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited a Suzuki Motor Corp. plant in western India on Tuesday to celebrate the start of shipments of the Japanese automaker's first electric vehicle.
The shipments of the e-Vitara battery-powered vehicle marked a new milestone in friendly relations between Japan and India, Modi said in a ceremony at the plant in Gujarat.
Suzuki President Toshihiro Suzuki said at the ceremony that the automaker will invest at least 700 billion Indian rupees in India over the next five to six years.
Modi's visit to the Suzuki factory comes before he travels to Japan on Friday for a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
On Tuesday, Modi also visited an automotive battery plant that Suzuki built jointly with Japanese partners Toshiba Corp. and Denso Corp.
The e-Vitara will be shipped from the Gujarat plant to over 100 countries and regions worldwide, including Japan and Europe.
The automaker aims to expand into Africa from India, a project seen as a model case of Ishiba's push to boost Japanese trade and investment in the region.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
