Isuzu Motors Ltd. will make India one of its hubs to export passenger utility vehicles and pickup trucks to emerging markets in West Asia, Africa and Southeast Asia, a top company official said, as the company began construction of Rs3,000 crore factory in Andhra Pradesh.
The facility is coming up in Sri City, a special economic zone in Chittoor district bordering Tamil Nadu.
The company expects to commence operations at the plant by early 2016 with an initial production capacity of 50,000 units annually. The plant will initially cater to the domestic market. Isuzu will gradually begin exports to emerging markets in the vicinity of the Indian subcontinent as the plant reaches full capacity of 120,000 units a year.
“India is a key region in Isuzu’s global strategy for its emerging markets and as an important manufacturing hub in the future,” Takashi Kikuchi, president and managing director of its Indian subsidiary Isuzu Motors India Pvt. Ltd, said in a statement.
The Indian factory, coming up in 107 acres, will work in collaboration with Isuzu’s existing facility in Thailand, Shigeru Wakabayashi, executive vice-president and deputy managing director of Isuzu Motors India, said. Isuzu’s Thailand plant (with an annual capacity of 300,000 units) is the only facility currently producing light commercial vehicles.
“Our focus is to accelerate our business and establish Isuzu as an important player in the pickup trucks and utility vehicles market in India,” Kikuchi said.
Isuzu, which entered the Indian market in 2012, currently has two vehicles in its portfolio—sports utility vehicle MU-7 and pickup truck D-Max. Japan’s oldest vehicle manufacturer has four dealerships currently in Hyderabad, Chennai, Coimbatore and Cochin, which it will expand to nine by opening showrooms in Bangalore, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Madurai and Delhi by March.
It aims to have 60 dealerships by the time its manufacturing facility commences the first phase of production in 2016. It plans to expand showrooms to 180 by 2018.
Source:- livemint.com
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