Wednesday, Sep 17, 2003
Wednesday, Sep 17, 2003 |
| Business | ||||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Business
By Ramnath Subbu
V. Sumantran (right), Executive Director, Tata Motors, and Kevin Howe (left), Chief Exective, MG Rover, with the first roll out of CityRover, at the Tata Motors plant in Pune on Tuesday.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Howe said, "In order to effectively meet the market requirements of the U.K., we felt the need to introduce a small car which would target the `city car sector.' Tata Indica is a product of international standards that fits in perfectly with our requirement as the basis for the CityRover. The CityRover will help us open a new customer segment in the highly competitive U.K. market.'' Dr. Sumantran said, "The Indica's success in the domestic market has been due to its strong value proposition, and its emergence on the international automobile market is a natural progression. The CityRover retains all the attributes of the Indica which have made it one of India's biggest successes, while introducing into the car characteristics which are unique to Rover and therefore suited to that brand and the driving environment in the U.K. and Europe.'' The contract between TML and MG Rover is for sale of one lakh units over five years. Mr. Howe said, "We have high hopes of the vehicle and of it accounting for a substantial part of our volumes. We hope to significantly surpass the one lakh mark over the five year period.'' TML has also launched its TL pick-up truck in the U.K. market a fortnight ago. Dr. Sumantran said that while TML's passenger car exports were at around 4,000 units last year, for the current fiscal, the figure would be more than double of last year's figure. The CityRover is being positioned as an attractive modern `city car sector' small car that provides the most competitive value-for-money blend of space, performance and specification available in the £6,500-£8,500 price band. The `city car' sector of the overall European small car market accounted for 1.1 million sales in 2002 and provides a significant market for the CityRover. Mr. Howe also said sales of the CityRover would commence in the U.K. market only from November and "this is the first time MG Rover is distributing product manufactured by someone else.'' The CityRover will be available in the U.K. and later in continental Europe through the Rover dealer network in four versions, namely, Solo, Sprite, Select and Style to suit the lifestyle requirements of its diverse customer base. The CityRover models will be powered by a 1.4 litre petrol engine, with an alloy cylinder head, single overhead camshaft and multi-point fuel injection. It develops 85Ps at 5500rpm, and a solid 115Nm of torque at 3000rpm and has a five-speed manual transmission. The CityRover has an all-independent coil sprung suspension for excellent ride and handling characteristics. Manufactured at the Pune plant, the CityRover will be marketed through Rover's wide dealer network in the U.K. and in continental Europe. Tata Motors will continue to market the Tata branded Indica through its existing network in Continental Europe. This agreement between Tata Motors and MG Rover is being seen by the global automobile industry as the coming of age of India's automotive industry and is an affirmation of Tata Motors' product development and manufacturing expertise. The agreement between Tata Motors and MG Rover was inked in December 2002 and while speaking then, Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Motors, had said, "This agreement will enhance the volume throughput of the Indica plant significantly. More importantly, we look at it as an endorsement by a major international company of Tata Motors capabilities in general, and the worldclass acceptability of the Indica in particular.''
Printer friendly
page
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | Home |
Copyright © 2003, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|
