Tata Motors Ltd is to develop a new platform for utility vehicle for which it will firm up the project outlay by January 2004, a senior company official said on Saturday.
"Sumo, the flagship utility vehicle came into the market a decade ago and we have formed a team to internally develop a new platform," TML executive director Praveen Kadle said addressing the Indian Debt Investors Conference organised by Fitch Rating and Citigroup in Mumbai.
The company may take help of an outside agency for styling the utility vehicle, he said adding, "we may not require to incur capital expenditure for the project as the company already has a manufacturing facility and will require investment only for product development".
The Tata group company would launch Indigo Estate, a station wagon and Indica Sports in the current fiscal, he said.
The company has also formed a core team to work on the small car project and a new commercial vehicle, he said adding the investment requirement for both the projects would be cleared by January 2004.
On the improvement in the manpower utilisation, Kadle said TML has already brought down employee strength from 37,000 to 22,000 through rationalisation and retirement scheme.
Referring to global business thrust, he said currently eight to nine per cent of production was exported and the company plans to double its exports volume in the next three years.
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