Tata Motors to shift car production to Uttarakhand

Country's largest automobile manufacturer Tata Motors will shift the entire production of its mini truck Ace and the passenger carrier variant of the vehicle, Magic, to Uttarakhand by next year.

'Currently, Ace and Magic are being produced from both Pune and Uttarakhand but the idea is to shift the total production to the latter unit,' Tata Motors Vice-President Sales and Marketing (Commercial Vehicles) Ravi Pisharody told reporters here.

He said by the middle of next year, the shift would commence.

'We are expecting to utilise the full capacity of the Uttarakhand plant by the end of the next year,' Pisharody added.

Tata Motors' Uttarakhand plant has a production capacity of 2.25 lakh units per annum and the company made an investment of ₹1,000 crore in setting up the facility.

The company today launched its six-seater rural transportation vehicle 'Magic', priced at ₹2.68 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), and 9-13 seater maxicab 'Winger' ( ₹4.67 lakh to ₹6.67 lakh ex-showroom Delhi) in north India.

He said initially the company was targeting about 22-30 per cent of the light commercial busses market, which presently has a volume of about 35,000 units per year, with Winger.

'Gradually, as we progress we are looking at about 15,000 units of Winger a year,' he said declining to project any figures for Magic.

'This (Magic) is a new concept and we are evaluating how it is received by the target market,' he said.

Pisharody said once the total production of Ace and Magic shifts to Uttarakhand, the Pune plant would fully focus on other light commercial vehicles.