Suzuki’s multi fuel strategy: Why India isn't ready to go 100% EV soon

For Suzuki Motor Corporation President Toshihiro Suzuki, the path to carbon neutrality needs optimism as well as caution. In his view, a cleaner world may not be not powered by batteries alone. For Suzuki, India's path to decarbonisation has to be premised on its circumstances, not the speed of world developments.

Suzuki Motor Corporation’s global goal is clear: achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. But how each market gets there, the company insists, must be shaped by local conditions. In India, that translates into a multi-pathway strategy, one that embraces electric vehicles, hybrids, biofuels, CNG and even compressed biogas as parallel solutions.

“We have to find our own way to carbon neutrality," Toshihiro Suzuki said at the Japan Mobility Show. That statement captures a fundamental difference in Suzuki’s worldview. While global automakers are racing to phase out internal combustion engines, Suzuki is betting that India’s transition will be layered, gradual, and deeply intertwined with its energy ecosystem.

Why all electric isn’t enough

India's electric vehicle journey is picking up speed, but the infrastructure is a bottleneck. Public charging points are still clustered in metros, while in tier-2 and rural areas it lags very far behind. Power grid resilience, localisation of batteries and cost parity still remain challenges.

Suzuki recognises these gaps. In his view, forcing an all-electric approach prematurely could alienate millions of customers who depend on affordable, reliable mobility. Battery technology remains expensive, raw materials scarce, and localisation a long-drawn process.

In that sense, the company’s “multi-pathway gamble" is also a hedge against uncertainty, ensuring that Suzuki stays relevant across segments even as the market evolves.

India at the core

Few global automakers have placed as much strategic weight on India as Suzuki has. The company’s Suzuki R&D Center India (SRDI) now leads the development of alternate fuel technologies tailored for local conditions. From hybrid powertrains to biofuel compatibility and CBG integration, SRDI’s work underlines Suzuki’s belief that India will not just be a key market, it will be the laboratory for sustainable mobility in the Global South.

Suzuki’s new EV plant at Kharkhoda, Haryana, set to start production in FY2025–26, will mark its entry into battery-electric manufacturing. But the company is equally invested in hybridisation, a bridge technology that aligns well with India’s short-term emissions goals and consumer economics.

Pragmatism over purity

Suzuki’s position is not anti-EV, it is context-driven. The company sees electrification as part of a larger continuum rather than a single, sweeping solution. Its upcoming models will span mild hybrids, strong hybrids, flex-fuel and electric, allowing consumers to choose based on usage, affordability, and local fuel infrastructure.

In many ways, this mirrors India’s policy direction, where ethanol blending, biogas and hybrid technologies are viewed as practical enablers of the green transition. As Toshihiro Suzuki has noted, “Each country should decide its own way to carbon neutrality depending on its situation."

For Suzuki, the challenge lies in timing. Move too fast toward EVs, and the company risks alienating a value-conscious customer base. Move too slowly, and it risks getting left behind as the regulatory noose tightens and rivals ramp up their EV portfolios. The answer, then, lies in balance, a philosophy that defines the brand’s approach not just to technology, but to business itself.

Betting on the Long Game

Suzuki’s India play is not about chasing headlines. It’s about building an ecosystem that can sustain the transition over decades. The company’s ongoing work with biogas, hybridisation and localised EV production signals an intent to diversify, not dilute.

If this approach succeeds, Suzuki could end up demonstrating something the industry has often forgotten, that the road to zero emissions doesn’t have to run on one kind of energy. In a country as complex and diverse as India, carbon neutrality will not come from a single breakthrough, but from the sum of many small, well-calibrated steps. For Toshihiro Suzuki, that’s not hesitation, it’s realism. And realism, in India’s case, may just be the smartest path to a cleaner future.

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