Tata Motors to launch slew of vehicles in 2008

Tata Motors to launch slew of vehicles in 2008

The LPT 2516 Super Turbo model

The Hindu - Business Line

Pune, Dec. 20 Tata Motors is preparing to launch a slew of new products in the forthcoming year, including pick-up vehicles in Thailand, the world truck in Korea and India and inter-city coaches and buses under the joint venture with Marco Polo, in addition to the small car.

Amongst the vehicles, first in the line-up for commercial launch during 2008 are the Xenon and the Space Cab, the first of the pick-up trucks that will be manufactured by the Tata-Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant Company joint venture near Bangkok, in Thailand.

Mr P.M. Telang, Executive Director, Commercial Vehicles, Tata Motors, said that the vehicles were slated for launch around March. “The Space Cab has been developed in India, but will be made exclusively at our brownfield plant in Thailand,” he said. It would address export needs also, and Italy and Korea were amongst the countries with a market for the product, he added.

Tata Motors has 70 per cent stake in the joint venture and has invested Rs 150 crore in the plant, which will have an initial installed capacity of 25,000 units, with scope for expansion.

Speaking about the world truck being developed both in India and Korea by Tata-Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Company and due for launch first in Korea in June, Mr Telang said that it would have specifications that would address the needs of developed markets too. “We will design a full platform of vehicles and decide which one to launch. The world truck will have features such as the Taco-graph and GPRS so that it can be sold anywhere in the world. Of course, in other markets, there can be appropriate de-contenting,” he said. The truck will be launched in India six to nine months later.

Referring to the Tata-Marco Polo joint venture to manufacture buses and inter city coaches, Mr Telang revealed that work on the facility near Dharwad had begun, and manufacturing was expected to begin by the middle of next year. “The plant will have a capacity of 30,000 units, and we expect to reach 50 per cent of the capacity within a year’s time,” he said.

Telcon to invest Rs 180 crore in Dharwad

Telcon to invest Rs 180 crore in Dharwad
Business Standard

Mahesh Kulkarni / Bangalore November 17, 2007

Telco Construction Equipment Company (Telcon), the Rs 1,800 crore joint venture between Tata Group and Hitachi of Japan, is on an expansion spree.

The equipment maker is in the process of enlarging its manufacturing capacities at two of its existing facilities at Jamshedpur and Dharwad in Karnataka.

Telcon is investing Rs 180 crore to increase production capacities at Dharwad and also set up a design-cum-training centre. The company owns 120 acres in Dharwad, which makes some of its equipment.

Telcon aims to add one more assembly line and a paint shop at the facility, Rana Sinha, managing director, Telcon said. “We are also seeking some additional sops from the state government,” Sinha added.

“The move to expand our capacities at these two plants in addition to a new facility is to cash in on the boom in the infrastructure sector. We are already the biggest manufacturer of earthmoving and construction equipment in the country and see a huge opportunity opening up in the sector. We wish to consolidate our presence by bringing in new products,” he said.

According to Sinha, the company had seen this boom a couple of years back and decided to expand capacities by setting up a greenfield facility at Kharagpur, West Bengal over 350 acres at an investment of Rs 600 crore.

The plant is scheduled to commission the Kharagpur plant by 2011 in three phases

Telcon is also looking at inorganic growth opportunities to expand its business in India and abroad.

“We have shortlisted a few firms and are in talks with several construction equipment firms in the US and Europe. We will finalise a deal by March.”

Telcon to set up training, R&D centres

Telcon to set up training, R&D centres
Economic Times

16 Nov, 2007, 1245 hrs IST, PTI

BANGALORE: Telco Construction Equipment Company Limited (Telcon), a subsidiary of Tata Motors, plans to set up a research and development (R&D) unit and three training centres in different parts of the country by next year.

"We will set up three training centres in Jamshedpur, Dharwad and Kharagpur by January next and impart training to 30 persons in each of these facilities," Telcon Managing Director Ranaveer Sinha told reporters here last night.

The R&D unit would come up at Dharwad in Karnataka. The new manufacturing plant at Kharagpur, where the company would be investing about Rs 600 crore in three phases, would become operational by early next year, said Sinha.

He was here to attend the EXCON 2007 event. In phase I, Telcon would roll out 6,000 units of equipment such as excavators, new models of wheel loaders, road equipment, trucks and cranes and the capacity would be scaled up to 24,000 units annually by 2011, he added.

The company is also focusing its attention on acquisitions and mergers in India and developed countries and the proposals were expected to fructify by March next, Sinha said.

"We are bringing in a slew of new products with updated technology. We are also working strongly on building support network," he added.

Telcon, which recorded a turnover of Rs 1,830 crore last year, has targeted to earn Rs 2,600 crore this fiscal, Sinha said.

Infy help sought to make Hubli IT hub

Infy help sought to make Hubli IT hub
Express News Service

Friday October 26 2007 14:48 IST

HUBLI: Once again Infosys has been appealed to set-up its IT shop in Hubli to make the city the an IT-hub of North Karnataka. The appeal this time was made by made by KLE Society chairman Prabhakar Kore.

The occasion was the foundation laying ceremony of the Dr R H Kulkarni Memorial Lecture Hall Complex at the KLES’ BVB College of Engineering and Technology here on Thursday. Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murhty laid the foundation.

Kore stated that with the rise of Infosys and other IT companies, the economy of the country had entirely been changed. “We are expecting the same kind of change in northern part of Karnataka, which would be possible if Infosys sets up its shop in this part of the region,” he said.

Sudhya Murhty, who is also an alumni of the BVB College of Engineering College, has donated Rs 5 crore to construct Dr R H Kulkanri Memorial Lecture Hall Complex on the college campus.

The complex will be built in the area of 42,000 square feet. Around 1,200 students can attend the lecture at the venue. The complex also houses class rooms, teachers’ hall and examination section.

Addressing the gathering, Sudha Murhty, however, did not promise any investment by the Infosys Technologies in Hubli, but said that it was the pay back time for her for the college which gave her a successful career. “Whatever you pay for your institute, cannot be matched with what you have gained from it,” she said calling upon the college alumnus to help their institute in all possible ways.

Principal Ashok Shettar said that the move of Sudha Murhty is worth emulating. With the aid given by the Infosysian, the infrastructure facilities in the college would further improve and maximum number of students can benefit out of this.

Sudha Murthy who visited the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital promised to donate Rs 2 crore to build super speciality OPD during the 50th year of the institute. She held discussion with KIMS director Dr M G Hiremath and concerned engineers for selection of land for the new OPD.

The land behind the existing OPD has been selected to construct two-storyed super speciality OPD complex with all modern facilities.

The work would be completed by the end of July 2008. The block would be named after her father Dr R H Kulkarni who was professor in the Gynecology Department in the same institute.