| November is
show time for Tata Motors in Africa. The Johannesburg International
Motor Show has provided the company with a splendid opportunity
to showcase its wide range of products for the African market.
This year, the new Indica Vista and the Sumo Grande utility
vehicle were unveiled on 31 October 2008 at Johannesburg.
The two new passenger vehicles and a one-ton pickup from
the Tata Motors stable were on the floor at the motor
show. The company also exhibited a range of commercial
vehicles including the new Tata Ace pickup, trucks, tippers
and buses. The new vehicles add significantly to the large
base of Tata Motors vehicles already sold on the African
continent.
Tata Motors has been selling vehicles in Africa for several
decades. The company has played a major role in the origins
of Tata operation in Africa. The journey began in the
1970s with the marketing of Tata Motors' heavy vehicles
in Zambia. In the 1990s, Tata Africa expanded its automotive
operations to Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Namibia, Mozambique,
Uganda and Ghana.
The Indica launch in South Africa in 2004 set the record
for the most successful car launched in the country. A
bus-body fabrication plant was set up in that year to
build indigenously designed buses that are now sold in
Zambia, Ghana and Mozambique. Tata Africa Holdings has
also acquired a Nissan manufacturing plant in South Africa.
Today, Tata Motors' vehicles enjoy leading positions in
several vehicle segments in South Africa and Zambia.
Apart from automobiles, the Tata group's operations in
Africa extend across several sectors such as telecommunications,
steel, hotels, ferrochrome, energy and information technology.
Says Raman Dhawan, managing director of Tata Africa Holdings,
the group's strategic investment arm in Africa, "The
investment commitment of the group in current and future
projects (in Africa) exceeds 12 billion rand ($1.24 billion).
Of this over nine billion rand will be in South Africa."
Syamal Gupta, chairman of Tata International and director
of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata group, emphasised
the Tata group's long association with Africa, saying,
"The group would like to continue this association
with our increasing involvement in various important projects
and operations."
The ever-increasing pool of Tata Motors passenger cars
and commercial vehicles in the country will further strengthen
the ties that bind the Tata group to Africa. |
