MLR Motors to roll out 2 models in two years

MLR Motors, promoted by Hyderabad-based Lokesh Machines (LML), is planning to launch two compact diesel cars of 850-900 cc and 1,500 cc in two years. The work on the project will begin in April this year.

The company, in association with Hyundai Motor India's former president B V R Subbu, is setting up a Rs 2,500 crore automobile manufacturing unit near Hyderabad and is to be executed in three phases.

The Andhra Pradesh government has recently cleared the project, the first phase of which involved an investment of Rs 750 crore. The state government had also agreed to invest Rs 50 crore in the project, for which it would be given preferential shares.

"I have already bought the car design," LML Managing Director M Lokeswara Rao said, asserting that the "cars will be on the roads in less than two years." However, he said funding and other details of the project would be disclosed in the next 15 days.

While MLR Motors currently manufactures three-wheeler vehicles, its parent company LML manufactures machine tools and automotive components. LML's customers include domestic automobile majors such as Ashok Leyland, Mahindra & Mahindra and Honda Motors. The Rs 100 crore LML on Friday bagged a Rs 20 crore order from Germany-based Wenig Wemas GmbH and its associates in Europe.

According to Rao, the equity of MLR Motors has been restructured to provide 20 per cent stake to Subbu and 49 per cent to strategic investors. The remaining 31 per cent is with LML.

He told mediapersons that the state government had acquired 750 acres of land near Medchal, about 35 km from here. Of this, 250 acres was provided for the car project and an additional 250 acres for ancillary units.