Isuzu Motors India is looking at exporting vehicles to around 15-20 countries as part of its plans to make India as a hub of its global manufacturing operations.
The company, which has invested Rs 3,000 crore in Andhra Pradesh to set up a manufacturing facility, has already started exporting vehicles to Nepal.
"We have already started exports to Nepal.Besides, we are currently reviewing plans to export to around 15-20 countries. Focus would be on right hand drive markets," Isuzu Motors India Deputy Managing Director Hitoshi Kono told PTI.
He, however, did not share timeframe for start of overseas shipments to these destinations, stating the plan is at a discussion stage. The company currently has an installed capacity of 50,000 units per annum at its manufacturing facility at Sri City in Andhra Pradesh which can be scaled up to 1.2 lakh units with very small investment, Kono said.
The company sells D-Max V-Cross and variants of D-Max pick-ups for the commercial segment. It today also launched a seven seater SUV mu-X in the country. The company currently rolls out over 350 units a month from the plant and is planning to gradually ramp up the manufacturing activity. "We are not in a hurry to expand our presence here.
We want to first establish after sales services in the country so that we can offer quality service to customers," Kono said. Isuzu currently has 28 dealerships across the country. The company, which is looking at enhancing localisation in its product range, has established a local supplier base of around 100 entities.
"We are working towards having 70 per cent localisation in our product range here. For this we are working with suppliers here. With quality at par with other global locations we are also sourcing components from here to other sites," Kono said.
Source: moneycontrol.com