Tata Motors to invest Rs 120 crore in Thailand pick-up truck venture
The Hindu Business Line — December 19, 2006

Tata Motors will invest Rs 120 crore in the new 70:30 joint venture with the Thailand-based Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant Company to manufacture, assemble and market pick-up trucks at Thonburi's existing production facility. The joint venture has not yet been given a name. Production is likely to start within 10-12 months with 30,000 units expected to be sold from the third year of production, said Ravi Kant, managing director, Tata Motors, at a news conference on Monday.

The new joint venture is a follow-up to the two-year market study by Tata Motors of the Thailand pick-up market. Thailand is the second largest pick-up market in the world after the US with annual sales of 4,50,000 units. Tata Motors will develop a special version of the one-tonne pick-up truck called the 'space cab' for the Thailand market. The space cab is an in-between model between a single cab and crew cab model, said Kant. It will sport a 3.0-litre Dicor diesel engine with an initial local content of 50 per cent.

The new model will carry the Tata logo and its features will have value for money against major American and Japanese players present in the world's largest one-tonne pick up market, he said. The space cab will be distributed through the existing Thonburi retail network, in addition to a new distribution network developed specifically for the space cab. This will be the first time that Thonburi's assembly plant will manufacture a pick up range. Until now, the plant was manufacturing various models of Mercedes Benz vehicles, according to the company's website.

For the overseas market, the joint venture looks at the possibility of exporting the pick-up in the neighbouring South-East Asian market. The company is now targeting new markets such as Russia, Egypt and North Africa.