The Tata Group owned automobile major Tata Motors has drawn up plans to hike the bus manufacturing capacity at its Dharwad facility to 1,250-1,300 buses per month in the two months. The facility began commercial production in January this year and currently produces 650 buses per month. We don’t understand how the plant is going to meet the power requirements as there is massive unscheduled power shutdown in entire Karnataka especially Dhaward District.
The facility, which makes light buses below 12 tonne gross vehicle weight, has an installed capacity of 15,000 units per annum. The capacity is expected to be increased to 30,000 units in the future. The unit, a 51:49 joint venture between Tata Motors and the Brazil-based Marcopolo, has been set up at an investment of around Rs 200 crore.
The joint venture facility – Tata Marcopolo – plans to produce a wide range of buses including the ‘Starbus’ and ‘Globus’ ranges. The plant is currently producing 30-seater buses that are favoured by call centres and BPOs.
For the fiscal ending March 2009, Tata Motors anticipates overall bus sales to stay at 2008 levels and during the 11-month period ending February, the company has sold 25,500 buses. With a positive outlook, the company expects sales to grow by 10-15% mainly driven by orders under Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission.