Chennai, December 10, 2013: Isuzu Motors India has begun local production of its vehicles and today rolled out its first made-in-India MU-7 SUV.

Isuzu has a contract manufacturing pact with Hindustan Motors under which HM will assemble the MU-7 SUV and the D-Max pickup at its Thiruvallur plant in Chennai from CKD kits which will be sourced from Thailand. Isuzu’s own manufacturing plant, at Sri City in Andhra Pradesh, is likely to be operational by 2015-16.

The Japanese SUV maker will beef up its dealer network to 60 outlets by the end of 2015-16. Isuzu’s Chennai showroom, which is located in Northern Chennai, will be inaugurated tomorrow.

The company has earmarked a total investment of Rs 3,000 crore for its own plant which is expected to have a vehicle production capacity of 120,000 units per year. The MU-7 SUV is powered by a BS IV-compliant 3.0-litre common-rail diesel engine which develops 161bhp. The locally assembled MU-7 SUV is priced at Rs 22 lakh for the BS III variant and Rs 22.3 lakh for the BS IV variant.