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BY OUR AUTOMOBILES CORRESPONDENT
21 March 2005,, Mumbai: Renault SA, France's second-largest carmaker, will form a 125 million euro ($165 million) venture with Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd to make Logan sedans in India, tapping into Asia's fourth-largest car market.
The venture will build as many as 50,000 cars a year beginning in 2007 for Indian buyers, Mahindra said in a statement to the Bombay Stock
Exchange today. Mahindra, India's biggest maker of sport-utility vehicles and tractors, will own 51% of the company, with Renault
holding the remainder.
Renault, which announced details of the agreement last month, is entering India with the $6,000 Logan it began producing in September
at its Dacia plant in Romania. Overseas carmakers are assessing the Indian market or expand their presence by introducing new models as
rising incomes stoke demand for cars in the world's second-most populous nation.
''There will be growth in the passenger car market going forward, especially with the improvement in the demographic profile,'' said Pramod Amthe, an analyst at Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt, in a phone interview from Mumbai.
The Logan accord was signed by Louis Schweitzer, Renault's chairman and chief executive, and Keshub Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra in
Mumbai, where the Indian company is based.
BY OUR AUTOMOBILES CORRESPONDENT
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