6000 Lancers sale aimed

Hindustan Motors, the oldest car manufacturing company of India, announced here on Wednesday that they aim at selling more than 6000 units of the latest model of the Mitsubishi Lancer in 2005-06.

"This year we see the Lancer selling around 3000 units which would be around the same number as fiscal 2004. Next year, we hope to sell 6000 units," said S C Gupta, vice president of Hinudstan Motors.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the southern launch of the Lancer LX model on Wednesday. He added that they expected the new model to form the bulk of the sales next year at 4,500 units. Around 30 per cent of this is suppposed to come from the South alone.

When asked about the fall in sales of the Lancer over the last two years, Gupta said, "We should have guessed the need for the shifting of the segment and the desire among people who for a car that is priced at less than Rs 7 lakhs. We did not catch it then, we hope to make up for it with this new model."

The model is available in 1.5 litre (priced at Rs 6.93 lakhs) and 1.8 litre in petrol, along with a 2 litre diesel engine(priced at Rs 8.37 lakhs). The model will be manufactured at the Chennai plant of the company where the Pajero is also manufactured. The plant has a lot of spare capacity.

Gupta refused to comment on recent reports indicating that the organisation was seeking permission to develop additional property near its plant in West Bengal.

The plant which manufactures the company's Ambassador vehicles has been blamed for the organisation remaining in the red for the past two years. It did though post a profit in the last quarter.