Italian carmaker Fiat Automobiles SpA has signed 7 the final joint venture contract with India's truck and car maker Tata Motors, a unit of Indian industrial group Tata, for an overall investment of 650 mln euro ($922.2 mln), Tata announced in a statement on Friday.
Under the agreement, signed on October 11, the joint venture will build passenger cars, engines and transmission for the Indian and overseas markets.
The joint-venture facility is situated in Ranjangaon, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra where Fiat will also assemble its new Fiat Palio.
The joint venture will also produce Fiat's models Grande Punto and Linea, its 1.3 litre Multijet diesel, 1.2 and 1.4 litre fire gasoline engines and matching transmissions, as well as Tata's next generation vehicles, to be distributed in Europe thought Tata's trade network.
The Ranjangaon facility is expected to produce 100,000 cars and 200,000 engines and transmissions annually. The plant will employ more than 4,000 people.
The Tata-Fiat dealership network, which is currently distributing and servicing the Fiat Palio, today numbers 65 dealers and is meant to expand to 100 dealers by mid-2008, when the new Fiat models are expected to be launched.
Ravi Kant, managing director of Tata Motors, will be chairman of the joint venture. Vice chairman will be Alfredo Altavilla, CEO of Fiat Powertrain Technologies and senior vice president of Fiat Group Automobiles. Rajeev Kapoor will be president and CEO of the new entity.
