The pick-up truck unit being established by Isuzu Motors India Private Ltd. in Sri City industrial estate in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh will be ready by 2016, according to Managing Director Takashi Kikuchi.
He was here on Monday to hand over five pick-up trucks to Chief Minister N. Chandra Babu Naidu as a part of the company's contribution to the cyclone relief effort. He said the company was at present importing the parts and assembling the trucks in Chennai at Hinudsthan Motors. "Our unit with an initial capacity of 50,000 pick-up trucks will be ready 2016. We will gradually increase the capacity to 1,20,000 vehicles per annum by 2019-20," he said.
He said the pick-up trucks accounted for 35 per cent of the light commercial vehicle segment in India and it was growing at a rapid pace in recent times. He said the market size at present was 2 lakh vehicles and it was expected to grow to 8 lakhs or so in the next nine to ten years. "We are bullish about the Indian market and as the economy is growing the segment will register faster growth," he said.
Kikuchi said three to four variants of the company's pick-up trucks are now available in the Indian market and the price range (ex showroom) would be Rs 6.25 lakhs to Rs 7.5 lakhs. He said the company had at present 11 dealers in the country and the number would rise to 60 by 2016.
The company was investing Rs 3,000 crores on its project in AP in phases. "We are very favourably located in AP, in the vicinity of Krishnapatnam port, and on the Bengaluru-Chennai industrial corridor. We are the biggest customers of Krishnapatnam port right now," he added.
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