Friday, July 15, 2011
By Pranjal Gera
Tata Opens up plant in South Africa
According to a local newspaper in South Africa, the auto giants from India, Tata Motors will commence the construction of a vehicle manufacturing plant in South Africa shortly. The newspaper cited a government source for the above information. However there has been no word of information from Tata Motor's side. Debasis Roy, Tata Motor's spokesman said from Dubai that the plan of constructing a vehicle plant in South Africa has been on Tata's list for a long time. He however said that he can not give more information than this.
He did not disclose the amount of investment Tata will put in the plant but said that there will be official words about the details of the plant from Tata Motors shortly. He said that the company is just a step away from a major milestone and that the company is extremely happy to see its plan on papers come alive for real.
The report said that the government official hinted that the plant will come up at Rosslyn, an industrial area in North Pretoria. The opening ceremony of the plant is expected to happen on 22 July and the plant is expected to manufacture Bus or Small Trucks for local market and for African market. Analysts of the matter said that the project will open up hundreds of job prospects in South Africa and a low cost locally made product might change the dimensions of the market.
Tata Motors at present exports Tata Indica, a low cost hatchback model to South Africa. The car has garnered a position for itself in the competitive South African auto market. Tata mainly sells a number of Trucks and other commercial vehicles in the South African market and their passenger car sales are very limited.
