TOKYO, Jan 12 (KUNA) — Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp. will design and produce vehicles for Middle East, Africa and other emerging markets at its Indian subsidiary, setting up a full-scale Research and Development (RD) facility and boosting the number of engineers there by 150 percent to 1,000, a leading business daily here reported Saturday.With the Indian unit focusing on these new markets, Suzuki’s Japanese operations will handle global strategic vehicles and low-emission models that comply with tougher environmental regulations, said the Nikkei Shimbun.

The Tokyo-based automaker plans to invest an additional JPY 400 billion (USD 3.7 billion) by 2010 at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., of which JPY 100 billion (USD 916 million) is earmarked for RD, the daily said.

The new research center will be located near its Indian plant. The Indian unit generates more than half of Suzuki’s net profit.

Suzuki plans to sell more than 2.75 million vehicles worldwide in fiscal 2009, up 15 percent from the fiscal 2007 estimate. Of this figure, some 1 million units are forecast to be sold in India, the Middle East and Africa.

The carmaker controls half the passenger car market in India, and its sales there have grown almost 20 percent. In addition, it sold 21,000 vehicles in the Middle East in the January-November period of 2007, up 28 percent on the year, and 30,000 units in Africa during the same time span, up 60 percent.

Initially, Suzuki intended to ramp up development at Maruti Suzuki India to serve just the local market, the paper said. But With demand for new cars heating up in resource-rich countries, such as those in the Middle East and Africa, it decided to transfer emerging-market RD functions to the unit.

Starting around 2010, engineers in India will use platforms designed at Suzuki’s Japanese headquarters as the basis for developing small cars and other models suited to the unpaved roads and other challenges found in India, according to the report. And around 2015, platforms are expected to be developed locally.