One the leading car makers of India, Tata Motors has inked an agreement with Apex Greatest Industrial Co. Ltd. (AGI), Myanmar. Under this agreement, AGI is responsible for distributing Commercial Vehicles (CVs) and cars manufactured at the Magwe facility, which has been established by the auto maker on behalf of the Myanmar government. This plant, located in central Myanmar, has initial annual capacity of 1,000 vehicles, which can be increased up to 5,000 units. The highlighting features of this facility are a highly flexible chassis and frame assembly line, along with setup for cab manufacturing, paint shop and trimming.
On May 26 2012, R. T. Wasan, Head, International Business, Commercial Vehicles; Johnny Oommen, Head, International Business, Passenger Vehicles, on behalf of Tata Motors, and the Chairman, AGI, Myanmar, U Kyi Thein signed the purchase and sale agreement.
In order to set up a heavy truck manufacturing plant at Magwe, Tata Motors signed a contract with Myanmar Automobile and Diesel Industries Limited (MADI), an enterprise under the Government of Myanmar’s Ministry of Industry-2. The contract, which was signed in March 2012, was supported by the Indian Government with a Line of Credit worth USD 20 million. The existing operational plant at Magwe was inaugurated back in December 2010.
While heavy trucks would be assembled at the plant initially, according to a company spokesperson, “the agreement also includes export of fully built vehicles from India and so in future, there are options for our other vehicles. This flexible assembly plant is similar to the one we have in South Africa where we assemble the LPT 813 and LPT 1518 medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCVs) and also supply our range of fully built CVs from India.”
