250,000 Nanos from Sanand this year: Tata

Tata Motors on Tuesday said it will ramp-up capacity at its Sanand (in Gujarat) facility that manufactures its low-cost car, Nano, to over 20,000 units per month and 2.5-lakh units annually by this fiscal.

"We will ramp-up production in our Sanand plant that manufactures the Nano to 20,000 units per month to reach the target of 250,000 units annually by this fiscal. We are gradually ramping-up production to meet customer-demand," Tata Motors' chief financial officer, C Ramakrishnan, said in Mumbai.

The Sanand facility has the capacity to manufacture 250,000-units annually, which can subsequently be increased to 500,000 units per annum.

The auto-major sold 14,779 Nanos in the first quarter of this fiscal. It raised its prices last month by 4 per cent.

The company said it has already hired 270 engineers and will hire 1,000 more going forward. "We plan to hire 1,000 engineers in the future to meet our demand," he said.

The company plans to launch its new Range Rover--Evoque--next year.

"We will launch more models in the near future -- the Evoque will be launched next year," he said.

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Jaguar sales drive Tata Motors revenues

Tata Motors posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,988.73-crore (Rs 19.887 billion) for the quarter ended June 30 as against a loss of Rs 328.78-crore (Rs 3.287 billion) in the same period last fiscal on the back of strong sales of its Jaguar Land Rover.

Its consolidated net sales stood at Rs 26,876.08-crore (Rs 268.76 billion) during the quarter as against Rs 16,365.57-crore (Rs 163.65 billion) in the year-ago period.

During the quarter, the Jaguar Land Rover business continued to show strong profitability with an increase in volumes coupled with significantly favourable currency movement, reporting a profit before tax of 233.82-million pounds (Rs 1,590.25-crore).

In the domestic market, passenger vehicles, including Fiat and Jaguar and Land Rover, sales grew by 56 per cent to 77,858 units.

It was driven by Indigo Manza, Indica Vista and Nano, the company said, adding its market share in passenger vehicles for the period stood at 13.3 per cent compared to 11.2 per cent in the same period last fiscal.

Domestic commercial vehicles sales during the first quarter grew 38.7 per cent to 100,186 units, with medium and heavy commercial vehicles segment increasing by 62.4 per cent year-on-year, the company said.

The company said it would increase prices of its vehicles due to a rise in commodity prices.

"Commodity prices have increased and it has impacted us. We are studying the situation and would take a call (to increase prices) at the right time," Tata Motors' vice chairman Ravi Kant said.

"Commodity prices are a major concern. Steel and rubber prices have gone up," he said.

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Land Rover to be assemble in India

After turning around the fortunes of the iconic Land Rover, Tata Motors said that it plans to start assembling the high-end SUV in India from next year.

"We have seen a good response in India for our Land Rover vehicles. We will start assembling them in India from next year," Jaguar Land Rover's chief executive officer, Ralph Speth, said.

Jaguar Land Rover was taken over by the home-grown Ratan Tata-spearheaded Tata Motors for $2.3-billion from Ford Motor Company in 2008.

Besides India, the company also found the Chinese market responsive to the Land Rover. "China is a good market for our Land Rover vehicles. We are looking to increase our market penetration in China, India and other developing countries," he said.

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TACO plans 5 factories at Sanand

Tata AutoComp Systems is investing around Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) to open five plants at Sanand in Gujarat in current financial year. These five new factories are part of the vendor park coming up at the Tata Nano plant site.

Tata Group in June this year commissioned its Tata Nano plant at Sanand with a capacity of 250,000 units per year.

TACO is amongst the largest automotive components groups in India, having revenues in excess of Rs 3,500 crore (Rs 35 billion).