Indian commercial vehicle maker Force Motors and German truck major MAN Nutzfahrzeuge Group have formed a joint venture to manufacture high tonnage trucks for the Asian market.
The production is likely to begin from the start of the next financial year. In a medium term, the annual production is pegged at 24,000 vehicles.
A letter of intent for a joint venture was signed on Wednesday between Anton Weinmann, chairman, MAN Nutzfahrzeuge Group, and Abhay Firodia, chairman and managing director, Force Motors, at Akurdi, Pune.
The contracts, which involve agreement on purchase, development, production and marketing, will be worked out in detail and signed during the first quarter of 2006.
Abhay Firodia said, "We have taken effective steps to establish a strong base to support this concept as we are convinced that the rapidly developing Indian transport scenario can benefit greatly from the induction of vehicles based on the most fuel efficient, safe, reliable and environment-friendly MAN Technologies."
At the moment, the MN group has license agreements with Force Motors, for producing trucks in the range of 16 to 25 tonne.
The planned joint venture will be an important step of MAN Nutzfahrzeuge, for opening markets outside of Europe. It is an important expression of the growth strategy of the enterprise.
"In Force Motors, we were able to find a partner, with whom we are not only in a position to manufacture in MAN - Quality, but who also is ideally integrated into a network of Indian component suppliers. That means we will make a truck, which is optimised for the Asian markets - produced completely from local components and at the same time will be based on proven MAN - Technology", said Anton Weinmann.
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