Japanese car manufacturers to invest in India

New Delhi, May 25: Japanese car majors Honda, Nissan and Toyota have announced a slew of investments amounting to nearly two billion dollars in the next few years in India.

Honda Motors, which had earlier announced to produce 60,000 units of small compact cars, has now upscaled it to two lakh units with an investment of about 0 million, industry sources said.

Nissan Motors plans to set up a manufacturing unit in Chennai in a tri-lateral venture with Renault of France and Mahindra&Mahindra of India.

The sources said total investment in the project is estimated to be around one billion dollars. Production is slated to begin in 2009 and will be gradually scaled up to reach four lakh units a year within the next seven years.

Toyota Motors, which is already operating in the country, has decided to set up a second plant to manufacture small compact cars with a capacity of one lakh units per year by 2010.

This plant will be located close to the company's first plant in Bangalore, the sources added.

Suzuki, the market leader in the compact car segment in India, had already announced its decision to set up a second production unit at Manesar in Haryana.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has been informed of aggressive investments by the Japanese car manufacturers.

UNI