Tata-Marcopolo scouting for land for bus facility

New Delhi, Feb 7: Commercial and passenger vehicle major Tata Motors and Brazil's Marcopolo are scouting for land to set up the proposed bus body manufacturing facility at a cost of Rs 150-200 crore.

''We are hunting for land for the world's largest bus body facility,'' Tata Motors' Managing Director Ravi Kant told reporters here.

The two companies had floated a 51:49 joint venture company, with the Tatas owning the majority share, to manufacture and assemble fully-built buses and coaches in India in May last year.

The JV will make 7,000 buses during the first year of its operations, which will be scaled up in a modular manner. It will produce 16 to 54-seater standard buses, 18 to 45-seater luxury buses, luxury coaches and low-floor city buses.

It was agreed by the companies that the technology and expertise in chassis and aggregates will be provided by Tata Motors, and know-how in processes and systems for bodybuilding and bus body design will come from Marcopolo.

Mr Kant also said Tata Motors will launch the passenger version of Ace within next six months from its Uttaranchal facility.

The Singur project is on schedule and the Rs one lakh car will be rolled out by the later half of 2008, Mr Kant said.

UNI