Gujarat gears up for auto majors

Ever since Tata Motors relocated its Nano production facility to Sanand, 30 km from here, in October 2008, the state government has been on the lookout for attracting more investments in the sector, with an aim to develop Gujarat as an automobile hub.

In February 2010, Hero Honda had shown interest to invest close to Rs 800 crore to set up a manufacturing plant with ancillary units. This February, a high-level team from Peugeot, the French car maker, met state government officials here. it was looking for close to 150 acres of land and was shown a site near Bol village in Sanand, where Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) is in the process of acquiring land for developing a GIDC estate.

US car major Ford and India's largest exporter of passenger cars, Hyundai Motors India, came calling in November and December last year, respectively.

Ford India, planning to introduce five new products by 2015, was scouting for land to set up a new plant outside Chennai. Earlier this month, it said it was et to invest $72 million (Rs 325 crore) to expand the capacity of its existing engine plant by 30 per cent to take it up to 330,000 engines by mid-2012.

Hyundai was shown sites at Sanand, Halol and the Dholera special investment region. Both companies are yet to get back.