Hindustan Motors (HM) is hoping for its financial woes to soon come to an end as the company has initiated talks with global automobile companies to set up a joint venture at its plant near Chennai. The company in a bid to save its financial losses handed over a part of its manufacturing facility to an associate firm called the Hindustan Motor Finance Corporation after facing heat from investors, earlier this year.
Hindustan Motors stated that the company is in talks with several automotive players to set up a joint venture and is optimistic that something will fructify definitely. The company is keen to increase joint ventures with several companies which would start its manufacturing activities at the plant. Although a time frame was not issued for the joint venture, HM is looking forward to closing the deal by the end of this financial year.
HM’s arrangement with Mitsubishi did not turn out to be as fruitful as the company hoped it would. Mitsubishi even negated the offer to buy the plant. The company instead is concentrating on introducing its next set of vehicles in the country which include the Mirage hatchback, Attrage entry-level sedan and the Pajero Sport Automatic in the future; which will also be manufactured at the HM facility near Chennai.
Hindustan Motors has been in the doldrums since years now. The company discontinued the Mitsubishi Cedia and Outlander due to the huge losses mounted by these slow selling cars. The company continues to manufacture the now iconic Ambassador at its Uttarpara plant in West Bengal, which was recently updated with a BSIV compliant engine; while the Pajero Sport is assembled at its Chennai plant under license from Mitsubishi Japan. Utility vehicle manufacturer Isuzu also assembles the MU-7 and D-Max models with an annual production capacity of 5000 units at the Chennai plant.
