International Cars gives Tatas a helping hand

International Cars and Motors (ICML), which is going slow on production of its Rhino sport-utility vehicle at its Himachal Pradesh plant, is helping out Tata Motors with the painting of its Ace mini-commercial vehicle.

The Ace has been earmarked for production in neighbouring Uttarakhand with an annual capacity of 2.50 lakh units. “We have been doing around 800 units per month since March. Tata Motors liked our paint job and we have agreed to help out for the time being,” said ICML’s managing director, Deepak Mittal.

Sources say that the painting is being supervised by Tata Motors officials. ICML, which is part of the Sonalika group, is reportedly facing underutilisation of capacity at its Himachal facility. However, Mittal reiterated to Autocar Professional, “We have not stopped production of the present model of Rhino,” while confirming that the company was readying itself for the launch of the new diesel engine option.

HIGH HOPES FOR DIESEL

The new powertrain is the G1 rotary pump engine from Rover’s Galileo series. The G2 engine with CRDi technology will follow suit nationwide in August. He is confident that the vehicle will do well.

The ICML plant has an installed capacity of 2,000 vehicles per month. It began production of the Rhino sometime back but sales have not been very encouraging. Since the 1.8 litre Isuzu petrol engine did not meet BS III emission norms, its sales were confined to the semi-urban areas of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. In the meantime, the company sought the help of UK-based automotive engineering firm Lotus to refurbish its product technologically.

Subsequently, two engineers from Lotus: Peter Durrell, principal design engineer-chassis systems based in the UK and Gu Heng Lee, lead CAD Engineer from Lotus Engineering Malaysia were stationed at the Sonalika plant in Hoshiarpur (Punjab) to work on the Rhino, especially its chassis.

According to top sources, the team is no longer with the company though Mittal said that the Lotus inputs were important for his vehicle. “The Lotus Engineers have completed their project successfully and we are extremely happy with their association,” he said.

Earlier asked why the Himachal plant was being let out to Tata Motors, both Mittal and head (operations), ICML S Burman denied that anything was amiss. “Every company has its own birth pangs. What then is wrong with letting out a part of our plant to another company?” Burman asked.

Mittal is extremely confident that the new Rhino will ensure adequate utilisation of capacity at Amb. He has entrusted the project to his son Raman, who according to sources, is playing a key role in revamping the Rhino, especially its interiors. Like other vehicle makers, the Sonlaika group has also imported vehicles to study engineering and styling.

P THARYAN