Hindustan Motors inks Isuzu deal
CHENNAI: Hindustan Motors, the Kolkata-based automobile manufacturer and the maker of the sturdy Ambassador car, on Friday signed a memorandum of agreement with Isuzu Motors India to contract manufacture its SUVs and multi-purpose pick up trucks from its Thiruvallur plant near Chennai.
“The components for producing these vehicles will be imported by Isuzu Motors from Thailand and assembled in Thiruvallur factory of HML,” the company announced after deal was struck.
Isuzu Motors India president, Takashi Kikuchi, said he was very confident of the growth prospects of the SUV and the light commercial vehicles segment in India, notwithstanding the current slowdown.
The confidence stems from the enthusiastic welcome to two Isuzu products – MU7 SUV and DMAX pickup truck, launched in Coimbatore and Hyderabad in March this year.
“We would like to accelerate and carry forward this positive momentum and expand our sales operations in other parts of India, starting with the Southern region,” Kikuchi said.
Agreement with Hindustan Motors, he said, would help Isuzu as its own facility is coming up at Sri City in Andhra Pradesh, which is just 70 km from the Chennai plant. Kikuchi also lauded the Thiruvallur plant as one of the best Indian automotive-manufacturing facilities which can meet Isuzu’s high standards.
Uttam Bose, MD and CEO, Hindustan Motors Ltd, the company of CK Birla group said the agreement with Isuzu Motors was a testimony to the state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities at our Thiruvallur plant and this would enable the company use its space capacity profitably.
It makes good business sense at a time when automotive industry in India was passing through testing times. Bose said that the agreement was a strategic move to place Hindustan Motors on the growth path.