Business   

Tata Motors rolls out one millionth car

— PHOTO: SHASHI ASHIWAL

MILESTONE: Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Motors, with the Tata Motors’ one-millionth car at the company’s Pune plant on Saturday.

PUNE: Tata Motors on Saturday rolled out its one millionth passenger car off the Indica platform from its facility at Pune.

The company commenced production in January 1999. While it produced the 100,000th car in March 2001 and the 500,000th car in February 2005, the progression from the 900,000th car to the millionth car was achieved in just seven months.

Addressing workers of the car plant here, company’s Chairman Ratan Tata said the journey to the momentous occasion was punctuated by many hurdles and difficulties.

“We have proved our critics wrong who doubted our ability and competence to produce a passenger car, in a departure from the traditional mould of truck manufacturing. Now, we have a reason to be satisfied with the rolling out of the one millionth car of Indica platform in less than a decade,” he said.

He said the team of people involved with the journey to this milestone should feel satisfied today of having created a robust car business for the company.

Starting with the Indica, the company launched the Indigo in 2002, the Indigo Marina in 2004, and the Indigo XL in 2007. The plant started with a capacity of 1.50 lakh units a year, which was subsequently expanded to 2.25 lakh units in 2006.

As part of the celebration of the one-millionth milestone, the company announced several initiatives, including free service check-ups, free service camps, discounts on accessories and value-added services for existing customers. A contest for free upgrades for lucky customers is coupled with special retail offers for new customers.

In addition, special retail offers and finance schemes for employees of vendors, financiers, dealerships are planned, the company said.

“We have broken a new ground but still have to travel some distance to make our product matching world standards,” Mr. Tata said. The Indica, the Indigo, and the Indigo Marina, had made a mark in several overseas markets in Asia, Europe, Africa, West Asia and South America, the Chairman said. — PTI

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Tata Motors rolls out one millionth car
Panel favours cap on bidders for UMPPs
TI to make door frames for Tatas’ small car
Reliance sells four per cent of RPL equity
Satyam to be FIFA World Cup’s sponsor
Facing bio-terrorism threats, the Malaysian way
Jyothi Lab’s public offer to close on Tuesday

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu