Well known Japanese commercial vehicle manufacturer Isuzu is said to be showing interest in India’s fast emerging commercial vehicles and multi utility vehicle segment. It is in talks with the respective state governments of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat and once it succeeds in choosing the best location, it will start building the facility immediately.
The $17.1 billion Japanese firm is keen on entering the market and could make an investment of over Rs.1000 crore. Isuzu’s India project team met the Andhra Pradesh state government officials recently and will meet officials from Gujarat and Tamil Nadu as well. The proposed facility will most probably become operational by 2014-15 and will have a production capacity of 100,000 to 120,000 units per annum.
Although Isuzu has not showed interest in commenting upon its plans when inquired, the state government officials from Andhra Pradesh confirmed the same by saying that Isuzu has shown interest in setting up a production facility in Nellore district, a place very close to Chennai port in Tamil Nadu.
The principal secretary – Industries, State Government of Andhra Pradesh, K Pradeep Chandra, said
“Isuzu have shown some interest for setting up one of their units here. They have huge range of products starting from cars to LCVs all the way to pick up trucks and heavy trucks. We don’t yet know which specific model they are looking at manufacturing here,”
The Japanese maker has already started its Indian operations by registering a new entity– Isuzu Motors India Private Limited and will set up an office in Chennai in August. Initially the company will not go with full-fledged production and will rather assemble and distribute.
As per the reports, the company will import CBU and CKD units of the known DMAX truck and MU7 SUV. After the production operations begin the company will sell 1500 units in the first year and could also introduce a new SCV model designed specifically for the domestic market. Localization is also where the company will be focusing upon as out of the 120,000 units to be produced annually, 40,000 units will be exported to international markets. We will keep you posted on new developments on the same, stay tuned to Car Blog India.
