Tatra Trucks Sees 94 Per Cent Increase In Sales In 2003-04

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New Delhi, Sept 21: : The local unit of Czech heavytruck-maker Tatra AS, which has changed its name to Tatra Trucks India, expects its sales to surge by 94 per cent to Rs 120 crore this fiscal.

The company hopes to increase sale of its off-road trucks by over 233 per cent to 500 units this year from 150 units in 2002-03, mainly due to spurt in infrastructure sector and better product portfolio, its managing director RIS Kahlon said.

He said the change in name has been done after an equity rejig at the parent company earlier this month, following which US-based Terex Corp acquired 51 per cent stake from another US-based investment firm SDC in Tatra AS, increasing its stake to 70 per cent.

An Nri-promoted Vectra group has 21 per cent equity in Tatra AS, while the nine per cent holding is with the Czech financial institutions. Tatra trucks India is an equal joint venture between Tatra AS And Vectra. “The new name will reflect our line of business, which is in producing off-road trucks,” Kahlon said, adding that an additional Rs 60 crore will be invested at its Hosur (Karnataka) plant in the next three years for indigenisation, thus taking the total investments to Rs 80 crore. Asked whether, Tatra trucks will foray into on-road truck manufacturing, Kahlon said “Our mainstay has been off-road manufacturing and leveraging on that strength, we can venture into production of on-road trucks”.

After the Czech government’s disinvestment in Tatra AS in December 2002, Vectra acquired 21 per cent of Tatra, while SDC and Terex Corp hold 51 and 19 per cent respectively.