Tata Motors to develop new fuel-efficient engines for trucks

Tata Motors plans to invest around Rs 400 crore to develop a new set of fuel-efficient engines for its light commercial vehicles (trucks), which would help increase its sales in overseas markets, a senior company executive said.

"We are developing a new set of fuel-efficient engines (three-litre and five-litre) for light trucks. The investment here is likely to be in the range of Rs 300-400-crore," a senior company executive told PTI here on conditions of anonymity.

The new engines are likely to be used on a new vehicle platform for light trucks, he said.

However, he did not give a time-frame by when the company expects to come up with these new engines.

The Ratan Tata-led company is also developing a double- trailer truck on its Prima range of world trucks for overseas markets, he said.

"We are developing a double-trailer truck in the Prima range for overseas markets," he said, adding the trucks are expected to be ready for sale by the end of next fiscal (FY 11).

"The trucks under the Prima platform are likely to be ready for sale by FY 11," he said.

These trucks have the potential to fare well in the international market, he said.

"We understood that there is no good demand for this truck in the domestic market, but we feel there will be a healthy demand for it overseas," the Tata Motors official said.

The company is now manufacturing engines for its medium- and-heavy commercial vehicles (trucks and buses) at its Jamshedpur facility. Tata Motors has an equal joint venture with US-based Cummins to manufacture engines for commercial vehicles at its Jamshedpur facility.

"The company has also advised to Cummins to revamp engines for (both medium and heavy) trucks," he said.