One of India’s biggest commercial vehicle makers, Ashok Leyland, and Japan’s Nissan Motors have a joint venture in India as Ashok Leyland Nissan Vehicles. This JV had proposed a plant to be manufactured near Chennai to manufacture commercial vehicles which now seems to be delayed.
The JV is finding it hard to source the land for building its plant and may now use Nissan Renault manufacturing unit to roll out its trucks. Renault Nissan Automotive is a 50-50 joint venture between Nissan Motors and Renault. “We are looking at the possibility of leveraging Nissan-Renault car plant as our unit has been delayed due to land allotment problems,” said Ashok Leyland-Nissan managing director R. Seshasayee.
The production from the JV plant will now start from 2011 as the companies are further contemplating their plans in India. "The two partners are also evaluating the possibility of enlarging the product range in the manufacturing plan, including some additional products from Nissan's global portfolio of light commercial vehicles," said the company in a statement. The two companies were also debating optimal use of investments by making use of their existing facilities.
