Tata Motors eyes sales of 2,20,000 light trucks in FY11

Tata Motors is eyeing a sale of 2,20,000 units of its light trucks this fiscal, a top company official said.

"This would include around 1,50,000 ACE trucks and around 70,000 Magic trucks," Tata Motors' Commercial Vehicles Unit President Ravi Pisharody told reporters here today.

Last year, 1,10,000 units of ACE and 48,000 Magic trucks were sold, he said.

The Tata Motors official said he expected Europe to be a good market for the electronic ACE trucks, adding "some development work is being done in that direction (development of the electronic variant)."

Overall, Tata Motors would be looking at a 15 per cent growth in the commercial vehicles segment this fiscal, he said.

The auto major also plans to launch four models under its premium Prima range of trucks, including two tippers, one tractor and one simple truck, between this September to March 2011.

Besides, the company also plans to launch three bus models, one each in the 7, 9 and 11-tonnes segment. Pisharody said as Tata Motors' small-car Nano starts getting manufactured at Sanand in Gujarat, the company plans to ramp-up the capacity of ACE trucks from the present 15,000 a month currently to around 20,000 at its Pantnagar facility, in about two-months time.

Going forward, Tata Motors has a major initiative lined-up in which it plans to get into the pre-owned selling of commercial vehicles under the brand name, Tata Certified. "We will be starting with our ACE trucks," said Pisharody.