"We are certainly looking into that option. It will be good for the shareholders and also for the business," he said, adding it would also mean surplus cash for the company.
DaimlerChrysler owns a significant stake in Japan's Mitsubishi Motor Corp, which holds 3.6 per cent equity in Eicher Motors. "Technically, its Mitsubishi Motor Corp, which holds the (3.6 per cent) stake. But DaimlerChrysler, being a majority shareholder in Mitsubishi, becomes an indirect owner of those shares," Lal explained.
Eicher Goodearth had in 1982 entered into a technical collaboration agreement with Mitsubishi Motor Corp for manufacturing light commercial vehicles in India.
Confirming the move, Chief Financial Officer Vinod Aggarwal said the negotiations are going to start soon.Lal said Eicher Motors' motorcycle division was doing well and the company had elaborate plans for expanding the product portfolio.
"We are coming up with a new engine sometime next month," he said. Asked about the details, he said the new engine would be a unit construction engine with two spark plugs.
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"We are strapping the engine in the Thunderbird model. The new engine will be much more efficient with more power and less maintenance," he said.
He declined to give details on the pricing of the new model, which would be a variant of the Thunderbird.
"The growth (sales) last year has been really good despite the industry witnessing a slowdown due to various reasons," he said.
The company sold 38,528 units in 2007-08 (April-March), up 20 per cent from a year ago.
Domestic sales stood at 36,010 units in the financial year ended March, the highest ever by the company for any year. During the same period, motorcycle sales in the country fell 12 per cent on year due to high loan rates and reduced credit availability.
Eicher group had bought Enfield India Co in 1994 and changed its name to Royal Enfield. Shares of Eicher Motors today closed at Rs 379.75 after hitting the 18.14 per cent upper circuit on news that the promoters would buy back shares from public at Rs 691.68.