Ashok Leyland and Nissan LCV plant to be located at Pillaipakkam

08 September 2008

Chennai: Nissan Motors has announced that the Ashok Leyland – Nissan joint light commercial vehicle (LCV) project has seen the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu government for the acquisition of 380 acres land to house the facilities of the joint venture companies at Pillaipakkam, 40 kilometres from Chennai.

The integrated plant will be used to set up vehicle and powertrain manufacturing facilities, along with a technology development unit for the three companies of the joint venture, which was formed in May 2008. In a statement Nissan said that the working of these companies has already been initiated, and that the joint venture is on course to roll out the first vehicle by 2010-2011.

Nissan expects exports to account for around 20 per cent of the first phase capacity of 100,000 LCVs.

Andy Palmer, corporate vice president of Nissan Motor Company Ltd., who looks after the light commercial vehicle business unit said, ''We are now in the ready to start real world operations in India. With the acquisition of the land in Tamil Nadu, we can now start the construction of the two manufacturing sites for vehicles and engines and we look forward to co-operating with our partner, Ashok Leyland, for a frugal yet high quality vehicle production.''

Joint venture partners Nissan and Ashok Leyland also announced the top management structure of the three joint ventures, reflecting shared responsibilities and control while drawing from respective domain strengths in critical functions of product development, quality, manufacturing and procurement.

Combined investments will be over Rs40 billion