The newly-appointed president of the company, Mr BK Chaturvedi, told reporters here that as part of the strategy the country's first automobile manufacturer was looking at increasing its existing distribution network of 92 by another 30 to 35 by end of this fiscal.

"Most of these new dealers would be appointed in the rural areas where we see a considerable opportunity. In fact, we are looking at reaching at least one dealer in every district headquarters," Chaturvedi said.

The company plans to increase its average monthly sale of top brand Ambassador to 2,500 from 2,000 at present.

"If we can sell 2,500 Ambassadors a month, this will make a lot of difference," he said.

If the company could sell 30,000 vehicles in a year on an average, he said, there was no reason it could not wipe out its entire loss of Rs 62 crore sustained till now and break even.

"This year, we plan to sell 23,000 vehicles in addition to trekkers and other vehicles and even then we may not be in a position to make book profit, but cashwise we would break even," Mr Chaturvedi said.

"This fiscal we are aiming at cash break-even, next year at normal break-even and in 2002-03 we will be earning profits and might also pay some dividend," he announced.

Mr Chaturvedi said they were reviewing the new areas for expanding the client base for Contessa, which he maintained, was very good for a section of people, whose numbers were now growing steadily in the country.