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08 February, 2012 Following its tie-up with Maruti Suzuki to supply engines, Fiat India Automobiles Ltd (FIAL), a JV between Fiat and Tata Motors, today said it will achieve 100 per cent capacity utilisation at its manufacturing facility at Ranjangaon, near Pune.
The plant is utilising 70 per cent of the capacity, said Piyush Lall, Assistant GM, Fiat Brands - Tata Motors.
It manufactures Fiat’s 1.3 litre MultiJet diesel engines and 1.2 and 1.4 litre FIRE gasoline engines.
The facility has capacity to produce 1,00,000 cars and 3,50,000 engines, besides 3,00,000 parts and accessories. Some Tata passenger car variants too are made there.
"The recent agreement with Maruti would definitely take plant capacity forward and Tata motors also plans to produce more cars from here. This calendar year the capacity is fully utilised," Lall told reporters at the launch of Linea and Punto 2012 versions in Andhra Pradesh market.
According to the MoU with Suzuki, FIAL will supply up to one lakh 1.3 litre MultiJet 75hp SDE engines a year to Maruti Suzuki, starting January, 2012, for three years.
The engine will be installed on Suzuki-branded vehicles produced in India for the local market. Lall said FIAL sold 18,000 units last year. This year it expects to sell 20,000 units.
While Punto is priced in the range of 4.89 lakh to Rs 6.92 lakh (ex-showroom, Hyderabad), the Linea range is priced between Rs 6.92 lakh and Rs 9.32 lakh.

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24 November, 2011 Tata Motors, maker of the world’s cheapest car Nano, is producing it at less than half of the annual installed capacity of 2.5 lakh units, a senior company official said on Wednesday.
“Our installed capacity for Nano is 2.5 lakh units per annum and we are presently producing 10,000 cars per month,” R Ramakrishnan, VP (commercial), passenger car business head of Tata Motors Ltd, said.
Launching the new version of SUV Sumo in Kolkata, Ramakrishnan told reporters, however, that Nano sales are increasing every month.
To penetrate the rural markets more, the company is in the process of setting up exclusive Nano outlets with the target segment being those owning two-wheelers, he said.
Regarding market share in the SUV segment, he said the company is taking steps to arrest the decline. “At present, out market share in the overall SUV category is 14 per cent which is lower than previous years,” he said.
Tata Motors is introducing more fuel efficient models to buck the industry trend of sagging sales, owing to high fuel costs and increased interest rates, he added.

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28 July, 2011 Japanese car giant Toyota on Wednesday announced an investment of nearly Rs 1,650 crore to ramp up the production capacity of its Indian operations by one lakh units and for increasing localisation of components by 2014.
The company, which is present in India through a joint venture with the Kirloskar Group, will invest Rs 898 crore to expand the production capacity of the two plants by 2013. Another group firm will put in an additional Rs 750 crore to set up aluminum casting and machining lines by 2014.
“Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) today announced a further increase of its production capacity to 3,10,000 units by 2013. The expansion will come with an investment of Rs 898 crore approximately and generation of new employment opportunities,” the company said in a statement.
The production capacity at the first plant will be enhanced from 90,000 units to 1,00,000 units, while the output at the second plant will be increased to 2,10,000 units from 1,20,000 units, it added.
TKM is at present expanding the capacity at the two facilities in Bangalore to 2.1 lakh units from 1.5 lakh units by 2012. The first plant will manufacture multi-purpose vehicle Innova and sports utility vehicle Fortuner. The second plant will roll out sedans Etios and Corolla Altis and hatchback Liva, the company said.
Commenting on development, TKM Managing Director Hiroshi Nakagawa said: “In line with the growing demand for our vehicles, we have decided to further expand production. The demand for Etios and Etios Liva has been encouraging and we are gearing up to cater to a larger number of customers.”
The company had last month launched the small car Liva and it has so far received booking orders for 4,000 units. The sedan Etios was launched in December last year and received a good response from the market, forcing the company to expand its capacity earlier than planned.
TKM also said it will increase the localisation of components of the Etios and Liva, with Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts Pvt Ltd (TKAP) planning to install and commission aluminum casting and machining lines by early 2014.
“The installation will see an additional investment of Rs 750 crore approximately and generation of new employment opportunities,” it added.
The lines are to be installed at TKAP’s new Etios and Liva engine plant, which is scheduled to start operations in the third quarter of 2012. In addition, TKAP will start producing transmissions for the Etios and Liva in early 2013. Exports of the transmissions are also being planned, TKM said.
“TKAP serves as a production and supply base for manual transmission for IMV series vehicles to India, Thailand and Argentina,” it added.

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07 July, 2011 Toyota Kirloskar Motors will expand the capacity of its second plant in Karnataka, which manufactures models like the Etios and Liva, a company official said.
The capacity of the second plant would be increased from 70,000 units per annum to 1.20 lakh units per annum, Toyota Kirloskar Motors VP (Sales) S Shetty said.
The investment required for the expansion would be Rs 215 crore and it would be completed by the second quarter of next year, he said.
Launching the Liva (the hatchback version of the Etios) here today, Shetty said that the company has sold 21,000 units of the Etios so far. The expected combined sales of Etios and Liva this year would be around 60,000, he told reporters.
Toyota Kirloskar Motors’ dealership network would also be expanded to 175 by the year-end from 150 at present, he said.

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