India’s Tata Motors mulls US debut with electric truck: company
New Delhi, Jan 25, 2008
Source: AFP
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g-uVfiynOIkSxc1PhM7CJCXOFefA
India’s Tata Motors, which recently unveiled the world’s cheapest car, may make its US debut with a tie-up to sell an electric version of its popular Ace mini-truck, an official said Thursday. “We’re looking at that opportunity to sell a vehicle on the Ace platform with an electric motor” in association with a US company, the senior official said, asking not to be named. “It’s premature to give more details,” he added.
India’s Hindu Business Line newspaper reported earlier this week that Tata Motors had signed a contract with Chrysler’s electric vehicle unit Global Electric Motorcars (GEM) to market an electric version of the Ace for US sale. US automakers are gearing up to meet tighter fuel emission standards starting in 2012.
The Ace mini-truck was introduced by Tata Motors, India’s top commercial vehicle maker, into the domestic market three years ago and became a runaway hit with small businesses. It launched a passenger variant last year. Tata Motors, the front-runner to buy Ford Motors’ luxury Jaguar and Land Rover brands as part of an ambitious foreign expansion drive, unveiled the world’s cheapest passenger car earlier this month costing 2,500 dollars. The five-seater car, slated to roll off assembly lines later in the financial year to March 2009, won rave industry reviews.
Hindu Business Line quoted unnamed industry sources as saying Tata’s battery-operated “neighbourhood electric vehicle” or NEV could ferry passengers and goods. The vehicle has already passed safety and reliability tests and the prototype is ready for production, the paper reported. The vehicle, which would mark Tata Motors’ entry into US markets, would be exported as a completely built unit without an engine, Business Line said.
The US counterpart, which already produces a range of six NEVs, would fit it with the motor, the sources said, adding branding still had not been decided. The newspaper said the electric Ace could serve as a launch pad for Tata Motors in the US, where it has no presence. The company has until now mainly focused on marketing its vehicles in the developing world.
The newspaper said export of around 10,000 units was expected to begin by year-end, to be ramped up to 50,000 units later. The company is also examining launching an electric Ace in the Indian market, the newspaper said.
The North Dakota-based GEM makes neighbourhood electric vehicles that have a top speed of 25 miles (40 kilometres) an hour and a range of 30-40 miles on a single charge. Typically, they are used in hospitals, golf courses, parks and residential complexes. Neighbourhood electric vehicles are exempted from stricter US regulations applying to vehicles travelling on main roads.