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The automotive division of Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), India’s largest maker of utility vehicles and tractors, opened its extended automobile manufacturing facility at Zaheerabad in Telangana’s Medak district on Wednesday. M&M invested Rs 250, on this facility.
The facility, inaugurated by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao, will churn out M&M’s new small commercial vehicle, codenamed P601, scheduled to hit the roads in the first half of the current financial year (FY16).
The new facility can produce 92,000 vehicles a year. With this, the total manufacturing capacity of the 340-acre plant is 140,000 units a year.
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The extended facility would give a new fillip to the manufacturing sector in Telangana, said Pravin Shah, president and chief executive officer (automotive) at M&M. The automotive plant will manufacture commercial vehicles weighing under one tonne including four-wheel load and passenger vehicles, utility vehicles, light commercial vehicles, and three-wheelers, he said.
“With our investment of Rs 1,100 crore till date, we have significantly invested in Telangana,” said Pawan Goenka, executive director of M&M. “We started the production of our four-wheeler vehicle from the new facility today. We will start selling that product in a short time.”
Shah said M&M would work towards manufacturing some of the best commercial vehicles from its Zaheerabad plant and help generate employment in and around the plant through its suppliers and business partners.
“In fact, six of our suppliers are currently setting up plants in the nearby supplier park, with investments of about Rs 100 crore. This will further maximise industrial activities and operational effectiveness, leading to just-in-time delivery for optimising cost,” said Shah.
The Zaheerabad facility, acquired from Alwyn Nissan in 1995, is M&M's sixth automotive manufacturing plant in India, with the other five being in Mumbai, Chakan, Nashik, Igatpuri (Nashik district) and Haridwar. The facility also houses M&M's tractors plant, which has already reached a production volume of 3,500 units a month.
