New Delhi: Suzuki Motor wants its parts makers in India to stop running seven days a week. The Japanese carmaker has asked suppliers to halt production for one day a week for machine maintenance, hoping to prevent unscheduled stoppages and protect quality before output climbs. Two people familiar with the matter told Reuters about the directive.
It’s the first time the company has issued such an instruction to its Indian suppliers. The timing isn’t a coincidence. Maruti Suzuki is preparing to lift annual production to 4 million cars by 2030, up from about 2.4 million today. That’s a big jump, and Suzuki seems worried that factories running flat out, every day, will struggle to carry it.
The concern is fairly plain. Running machinery daily raises the risk of accidents, unplanned stoppages and quality problems as volumes rise. The pressure is also coming from the product side, since suppliers are being asked to handle more complex technology, including new powertrains and extra safety features.
The push started at the top. In August, Suzuki Motor President Toshihiro Suzuki met suppliers in India and asked them to plan capacity around a six-day week. Maruti followed up, and suppliers have been asked to sign declarations by year-end confirming their lines for the automaker don’t run all seven days.
The longer-term target is stricter. Suzuki wants suppliers on a 20-hour, six-day model by September 2027, with four hours of downtime each night and a full day for maintenance.
None of this will be free. Suppliers who’ve been squeezing every hour out of their machines may need extra equipment or extra shifts to hit the same volumes in fewer hours. Analysts have flagged the trade-off as near-term spending and possibly higher per-part prices against a smoother path to the 4 million-car goal. Who absorbs those costs isn’t clear from the reports, and neither Suzuki nor Maruti has publicly spelled it out.
The stakes are large. India is Suzuki’s biggest market and, increasingly, a manufacturing base for exports to places like Japan and Europe. A supplier network that can’t keep up, or that cuts corners to do so, would hurt both. Suzuki appears to be betting that a scheduled day off is cheaper than a breakdown.
