With the new plant at Sri City nearing starting of operations, Isuzu Motors has decided to stop production at Hindustan Motors’ plant in Thiruvallur. The new plant is rumoured to start production in April, with an initial installed capacity of 50,000 units.
In the month of December 2015, Isuzu had produced 0 vehicles at Hindustan Motors’ plant. The company states that it is entering into phase 2 of production which will begin at Isuzu’s new plant in Sri City in Andhra Pradesh. The Rs. 3000 crore plant that the Japanese automaker has set-up, is expected to begin with a 50,000 unit capacity in April this year which is expendable upto 1,20,000 units annually.
The company had set its roots in India in 2012, with their headquarters at Chennai. Since then Isuzu has opened up 27 dealerships throughout the entire country among which four are in Delhi itself. By the year 2020, the automaker plans on increasing their network to 160 outlets. Isuzu Motors, headquartered in Tokyo, has operations in 25 countries and their products are sold in more than 100 countries worldwide.
The Japanese utility vehicle manufacturer had showcased their pickup truck, D-Max and their SUV, the MU-7 at the 2014 Auto Expo, with the former being a showcase for the first time back then. These were the two vehicles that were being manufactured to be sold in India by the Hindustan Motors’ plant. In the fiscal year 2016, the company sold 271 units of the MU-7 and 951 units of the D-Max. Instead of MU-7, Isuzu Motors claim that they will have an all new product on display this year alongside D-Max.
About their new rumored product, it is not a concept vehicle and it will be seen on Indian roads this year. The company is set to manufacture the new product at their new plant. Already being sold in overseas markets, the new vehicle could either be the Panther, which is an MUV, or it could be the MU-X, which is a full-fledged, 7-seater SUV which has replaced the MU-7 in the company’s SUV line-up.
