It was the Maruti 800 moment all over again.Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) on Friday unveiled its first EV — the SUV e-Vitara at the Bharat Mobility Global Show 2025, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.

The company disclosed its plan of an EV ecosystem, comprising fast chargers in 1,000 cities in the country.

“The e-Vitara is the first global battery electric vehicle (BEV) for Suzuki and it will be manufactured in India for the world,” Toshihiro Suzuki, representative director and president, Suzuki Motor Corporation, said.

The company will start production and open bookings in the next fiscal year.

Stating the company has studied EVs all over the world, Suzuki said: “We will have to first learn the manufacturing technique of EVs. Once we do that we will make small EVs too. Based on the study we intend to make EVs that are attractive to customers. We have a dedicated EV platform, and we intend to bring light, energy efficient products for the customer.”

“The e-Vitara will be manufactured at the Gujarat facility and will be exported to 100 countries, including Europe and Japan. India will be the global manufacturing base for quality products,” he said. Suzuki’s technology strategy for the next 10 years is to minimise energy consumption.

The company has invested ₹2,100 crore on developing the e-Vitara and a dedicated EV line at its Gujarat facility, Hisashi Takeuchi, managing director and CEO of MSIL, said.

“From manufacturing to recycling, we minimise resource use. We offer hybrids, CNG and bio fuel-driven cars and have seen an increasing customer preference for these.”

Takeuchi said Maruti Suzuki India aims to be the leading producer of electric vehicles in the country over the next one year.

“I can’t mention the numbers (sales), but one thing I can tell you is, in terms of production volume of EVs, as an OEM (original equipment manufacturer), we are targeting to become number one EV manufacturer in India within one year,” Takeuchi told reporters.

He was replying to a query regarding the sales expectations from the model.

MSIL will have fast chargers in 100 cities and there will be a charger every five km, said Partha Banerjee, senior executive officer, marketing and sales, MSIL.

“There will be 1,509 EV workshops in 1000 cities and a mobile app for EV charging,” he said. The charging network will address 97 per cent of the market.

Hyundai EV

Hyundai on Friday launched the electric Creta at an introductory price of ₹17.99 lakh. The company is offering two battery options, 51.4 kWh that will provide 473 km range and a 42 kWh that will provide 390 km range.

The price will range from ₹17.99 lakh to ₹19.99 lakh for the 42kWh battery pack. For the 51.4 kWh pack, the price will range from ₹21.49 lakh to ₹23.49 lakh.