Swaraj Mazda renamed Swaraj Vehicles

Swaraj Mazda, a leading player in light commercial vehicles, will now be renamed as Swaraj Vehicles.

The entity will have a new name as its technical collaboration with Mazda expired in 2004 after 21 years.

Talking to media, the Managing Director of the company Yash Mahajan said Japan's leading coach manufacturer Isuzu motors would pump in Rs 300 crore for the expansion of business near the existing facility in Ropar.

According to sources, Rs 120 crore would be raised through rights issue, which the board of directors have approved. The balance amount would be raised from the financial institutions. This might also change the equity structure of the company but Mahajan declined to comment on that.

The company today rolled out its first luxury coach priced at Rs 60 lakh today. It entered into technical collaboration with Isuzu in June 2006. The event was largely attended by the dealers from across India.

According to Mahajan, in phase one of the expansion plan, 12,000 Isuzu chassis would be used for both cargo application and building buses on them.

Mahajan said after the completion of expansion, this would be the largest coach making plant in India. He added that the company was getting 53 per cent of the sales from the sale of coaches and they would like to focus on buses in near future.

He announced that the company would launch its truck (heavy commercial vehicles) after one year. The company would concentrate on 40 seater ultra luxury buses those were in demand due to expansion of tourism industry in India.