Industry News
Tata announces first plant for £1,200 minicar
23rd May 2006
Tata Motors has announced plans for its first plant in West Bengal for a planned basic car for the domestic market. The plant will be spread over an area of 700 acres, with additional facilities for a supplier park. The total investment is likely to be over Rs.1,000 crores (circa €170m), including direct investment by Tata Motors and its suppliers.
The plant will initially directly employ 2,000 from two years’ time, and is expected to create employment in excess of 10,000 jobs amongst the suppliers and service providers in the vicinity. Construction work will commence shortly, and the plant will be commissioned in 2008. The minicar to be produced, currently in development at Pune, will be partly completed at the West Bengal plant and then finally assembled at several low-cost plants elsewhere in India. It is expect to sell for as little as Rs one lakh (circa £1,200/€1,700), and cost some €1,550 per unit ex-final assembly. Conceiving the 660cc minicar as an affordable step up from a powered two wheeler, Tata aims to sell some 500,000 a year into an India market now worth some 5m motorcycles a year.
- Tata Motors has just reported growth of 20% in its consolidated gross revenue at Rs.27266.41 crores, as against the previous year's consolidated gross revenue of Rs.22708.23 crores. The company reported on 19 May consolidated revenues (net of excise) Rs. 23718.17 crores, an increase of 21% as against Rs. 19532.84 crores in the previous year. Profit before tax for the financial year 2005-06 was Rs. 2348.98 crores, an increase of 27% as against Rs.1848.09 crores in the previous year.
(Source: company, El Mundo, 20 May)
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