Tata Motors, India’s biggest car maker, is to export its pickup trucks from its Thai assembly plant to Malaysia, aiming to ship 500 in its 2013 fiscal year ending March 31 next year.
Sanjay Mishra, chief executive of Tata Motors (Thailand) Co, said the company has appointed Malaysian partner DRB-Hicom Bhd as its authorised distributor.
Six models of the Tata Xenon, powered by diesel and compressed natural gas engines, will be exported to Malaysia.
Mr Mishra said Tata is also studying shipping vehicles from its Samut Prakan plant, which is a joint venture with Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant Co, to other neighbouring countries.
For fiscal 2012 ended March 31, the Thai unit reported sales of 4,597 vehicles, a slight increase from 4,586 in 2011.
The company’s accumulated sales totalled about 20,000 units.
Mr Mishra said the company’s plans to kick off exports will boost sales in fiscal 2013 by 10%, with the figures in fiscal 2014, starting from April 2014, to reach 10,000 units including exports to Malaysia.
Tata also plans to introduce the Nano in Thailand by January next year.
The Nano is said to be the world’s cheapest passenger car, powered by an engine of 600 or 700cc, with prices starting at about 280,000 baht.
Tata expect to sell 200 Nanos in Thailand in fiscal 2014 and 2,000 in 2015.
It also plans to invest 100 million baht in Thailand to produce about 2,500 units a year of the Super Ace City Giant, a commercial mini-truck, from 2014.
Source: BangkokPost – http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/369094/tata-thai-plant-to-export-pickup-trucks-to-malaysia