As per the latest Auto news, Maruti Suzuki, the country’s largest car manufacturer has recently announced that it’s India branch will invest Rs 2,600 crore to establish a new diesel plant at its Gurgaon facility and to boost R&D activities at Rohtak by 2014.

Maruti Suzuki India’s Board of Directors, in a meeting took place on Friday, sanctioned the deal to establish a diesel plant in Gurgaon at an investment of Rs 1,700 crore. The company further announced to ramp up investment by Rs 900 crore at its upcoming R&D centre in Rohtak.

While talking to media, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Chairman R C Bhargava said, “We are going to invest Rs 1,700 crore to set up the diesel plant, which will be constructed inside our Gurgaon manufacturing facility. This will be a brand new unit and will be owned by the company.”

When asked about company’s upcoming R&D plant in Rohtak, Mr. Bhargava said, “The board has also approved an additional investment of Rs 900 crore to set up various facilities, including testing for emission and safety. This will be over and above the Rs 1,500 crore earlier announced to set up the test track.”

He further told media that the company will set-up the plant in phases and will start working by mid-2013 with an initial capacity of 1.5 lakh units every year.

He said, “In the first phase, we will invest Rs 950 crore. After that, we will double the capacity to three lakh units per year by 2014 and it will entail a total investment of Rs 1,700 crore.”

Maruti Suzuki India, which is acquiring diesel engines from Suzuki Powertrain India Ltd ( SPIL) and Fiat India, had put on hold investments on the plant awaiting clarity over any additional taxes on diesel vehicles in the Budget.