16 Mar 2008

Tata Motors plans to shift the full production of its mini truck, Ace, and the passenger carrier variant of the vehicle, Magic, to Uttarakhand by next year.

“Currently, Ace and Magic are being produced from both Pune and Uttarakhand but the idea is to shift the total production to the Uttarakhand unit,” Tata Motors’ Vice-President, Sales and Marketing (Commercial Vehicles), Ravi Pisharody, told newspersons here.

He said that the shift in production would commence by the middle of next year.

Focus on light vehicles

Pisharody said once the total production of Ace and Magic shifts to Uttarakhand, the Pune plant would fully focus on other light commercial vehicles.

“We are expecting to utilise the full capacity of the Uttarakhand plant by the end of the next year,” Pisharody added.

Tata Motors’ Uttarakhand plant has a production capacity of 2.25 lakh units per annum and the company made an investment of Rs 1,000 crore in setting up the facility.

Meanwhile, the company, on Saturday, launched its six-seater rural transportation vehicle ‘Magic’, priced at Rs 2.68 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), and 9-13 seater maxicab ‘Winger’ (Rs 4.67 lakh to Rs 6.67 lakh ex-showroom Delhi) in the North.

He said initially the company was targeting about 22-30 per cent of the light commercial bus market, which currently has a volume of about 35,000 units per year, with Winger.

“Gradually, as we progress, we are looking at about 15,000 units of Winger a year,” he said, declining to project any figures for Magic.

News Source: http://sify.com