The company will invest about Rs 700 crore which would be funded through internal accruals, debt and through equity placements for design and production of the World car.
The company intends to set up assembling unit in Europe (may be in Italy)
followed by South east Asia and USA for the World Car and would be
imported from India as CKD (completely knock down) unit. Already, the
Company is exploring the commercial feasibility of the production of the
vehicle with various manufacturers in Europe.
Furthermore, the company is planning to invest further in its unit at Amb in Himachal Pradesh and will have an installed capacity of 50,000 CKD units of World Car.
Initially, it will be launched in Europe followed by South East Asia and
USA. As per the collaboration, the World cars will now roll on Italian
engineering as Pininfarina, apart from the designing support will also
provide consultancy support to the making of these cars. With the
engineering of Pininfarina, these cars would be unique in terms of safety,
design and styling which is strongly associated with Pininfarina. It is
worth noting that Pininfarina, has a proven track record of bringing about
some of the iconic international brands like Ferrari, Maserati, Jaguar,
Volvo and so on.
Speaking to Business Standard, ICML, Managing Director, Deepak Mittal,"
With the technical collaboration with Pininfarina, we are hopeful to
launch luxury World Cars by 2010. Already the prototype is ready,
initially we will launch a 7 seater SUV and a 5 seater luxary car by 2010.
Initially it will be launched in Europe followed by South East Asia and
America. Further, in order to bring down the input cost, we are planning
to set up assembling unit across World."
"The World car will be manufactured in India as completely CKD(completely knock down) unit and will be assembled at various assembling unit across the world, he added.
The entire engineering and designing of the car would be carried out
under the keen supervision of Andrea Pininfarina, President, Pininfarina
S.p.A, in Italy. "The cars will have high standard of safety and
engineering. The quality would be at par with global products, " added
Mittal.
Describing the concept of 'World Car', Pininfarina said, "It is in line
with our philosophy to innovate and exceed our benchmarks that we are
coming up with 'World Car'. This will be a family of vehicles that will
include SUV's and high-end luxury cars. World Car offers the most
distinguished and sophisticated piece of engineering in the segment
complementing the new age elite segment."
Further, these vehicles would comprise high-end aesthetic features that
will suit the sensibilities of a sophisticated buyer in a most suitable
manner. ICML is investing approx. Rs 700 crore initially on this project.
At present ICML holds the installed capacity to produce 2000 MUVs (Rhino)per month that comes to 24000 MUVs in a year.
