Chavan who welcomed the company’s decision to set up a Rs 3,800 crore plant at Pune with an annual capacity of manufacturing 1,10,000 cars, said the state government would extend support to achieve full capacity utilization at the earliest.

Jochem Heizmann, entrusted with responsibility for Volkswagen Group production, said the investment of Euro 580 million (Rs 3,800 crore) made in the plant was the largest one by a German company in India.

Further, he indicated they were exploring “areas of cooperation” with Suzuki Motors in India for manufacturing smaller cars. “We need a car below ‘Polo’ to extend our market share in India. We are happy about our cooperation with Suzuki Motors which has just started and will look for common approaches and synergies on long term strategic issues,” Heizmann, said interacting with media after roll-out.

While stating that there were no “concrete projects” defined so far by the two Auto majors, he said “we complement each other well and there is a big potential for common approaches.” Asked to specify the areas of possible cooperation between Volkswagen and Suzuki in India, Heizmann said it could be in the field of “hybrid and electric” car manufacturing technology for which Suzuki is known. “Suzuki is strong in India and Japan while Volkswagen has a strong presence in Europe, China and South America,” he added.

The company said it aims to grab 8-10 per cent of the country’s market share in the next 4-6 years. It has set a target to localise production in India to about 80 per cent in 2-3 years from the current levels of almost 50 per cent as it seeks to offer cars at more competitive prices.