After announcing that its mini car would be priced at Rs 100,000, Tata Motors on Tuesday said there was potential to ramp up the much-talked-about car's production to one million units in the next four-five years.
This indicates that there will be no shortage of the car, dubbed as group chairman Ratan Tata's dream project. The mini car is expected to be launched in 2008.
Tata Motors managing director Ravi Kant said, "There is good potential for making one million mini cars in the future. We will manufacture mini cars in India, although we have received requests from abroad for setting up production facilities there."
Tata Motors would set up a number of assembly units across the country with a centralised engine production facility to achieve the targeted capacity, he said.
The company is in the process of selecting vendors for supplying components.
Tata Motors, however, has not given the details of the investment earmarked for the mini car's capacity expansion. Kant only said the overall capital expenditure was pegged at Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion) for the next four years.
Tata Motors' manufacturing capacity for passenger cars -- the Indica and the Indigo -- is 225,000 units per annum.
The company will also double the production of the recently launched small truck, the Ace, to 60,000 units in two-three years. "The company is in the process of identifying a new location for making the Ace to meet the demand of the states where it is not available now," said Kant.
Tata Motors produces the truck at Pune and sells it in five states. Tata Motors' share in the domestic commercial vehicle market has been growing at a rapid pace. It went up to 61 per cent in September from 50 per cent in April.
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