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BMW goes to Chennai
SKDs and CKDs of BMW cars to be assembled at Chennai plant.
BY A CORRESPONDENT
31 August, 2005: German carmaker BMW AG has announced its decision to start its Indian operations in Chennai in Tamil Nadu. The plant will import and assemble BMW cars in India. There are no plans to start full-scale manufacturing of its luxury car rage in India.
With this, Tamil Nadu has got yet another automobile multinational to place its bets n the state. As of now, Ford, Hyundai and Mitsubishi have their manufacturing plants in India.
The BMW plant, to be set up a cost of Rs 180 crore, will come up at the Mahindra Industrial Park. This place is about 31 kilometers from Chennai city.
BMW had earlier assessed several other cities and townships to set up its Indian plant, including some in Kerala. However, BMW finally chose to go to Tamil Nadu, said BMW board member Norbert Reiphofer.
Both SKD and CKD kits (semi-knocked down and completely-knocked down) will imported to the Chennai plant, where the cars will be assembled.
Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa said that the BMW decision underscored Chennai's position as the automobile hub of India.
Jayalalithaa surely has reason to smile. Neighboring states like Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have been bogged down in problems with MNC plants. Recently, Volkswagen got into a major mess with the Andhra Pradesh government, when its Hyderabad project representative got the AP government to pump about Rs 11 crore into a dummy company. The AP government is waiting for Volkswagen to return the money, which it has promised.
Meanwhile, Coca-Cola has been struggling with its cola plant at Plachimada in Kerala, which the local municipal body has repeatedly tried to shut down.
BY A CORRESPONDENT
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