Production will start in March, with Tata targeting sales of 5,000 vehicles within the first year, Tata Thai Chief Executive Officer Ajit Venkataraman told reporters in Bangkok on Thursday. The company is aiming for a 5 per cent share of the Thai pickup market within five years, he added.
New vehicle sales rose 3.3 per cent in Southeast Asia's biggest automobile market in the third quarter on the back of the country's economic growth. Tata will compete with Isuzu Motors Ltd., the biggest maker of pickup trucks in Thailand.
The plant has the capacity to build 35,000 trucks a year. The venture is 70 per cent owned by Tata Motors and 30 per cent by Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant Co. Tata Managing Director Ravi Kant said in December last year that the unit will produce 30,000 vehicles annually after three years.
