HM to contract manufacture Isuzu SUV and pickups at its Chennai plant

Chennai, June 29, 2013: Isuzu Motors India, a subsidiary of Isuzu Motors, Japan, has signed an agreement with Hindustan Motors (HM) for contract manufacturing Isuzu SUVs and pickup trucks in India. The components for producing these vehicles will be imported by Isuzu Motors from Thailand and assembled in HM’s factory at Thiruvallur, near Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

The two companies have had business relations in the past. In the late 1980s, Isuzu Motors had a collaboration with HM for the manufacture of Isuzu 1.8 and 2.0-litre engines in India.

Takashi Kikuchi, president, Isuzu Motors India, said, “We are very confident about the growth prospects of the SUV and LCV market in India, notwithstanding the current slowdown. We are also very happy with the positive feedback of the market to our MU7 SUV and DMAX pickup truck, which we launched in Coimbatore and Hyderabad in March this year by importing these vehicles as CBUs from Thailand. We would now like to accelerate and carry forward this positive momentum and expand our sales operations in other parts of India, starting with the Southern region. The collaboration with Hindustan Motors will support us by carrying out assembly of our products at Thiruvallur, which is about 70km from Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, where our own local manufacturing facility is to come up. We can thereby advance the scope of our sales operations and increase the scale of supply volumes without waiting for our local manufacturing facility to be ready.”

Kikuchi added that the Thiruvallur facility is one of the best automotive manufacturing facilities in India, and can meet the high quality standards of Isuzu Motors. Isuzu Motors India started its operations in India in 2012-13 and has set up two dealerships, one each in Hyderabad and Coimbatore; another dealership is to open in Chennai soon. The dealer network expansion will continue with 9-10 dealerships expected to come up by the end of this year.

Commenting on the development, Uttam Bose, managing director and CEO, HM, said that the contract manufacturing operations will enable HM to optimally utilise its spare capacity at Thiruvallur.

KARTHIK H