[Achyuth Vaibhav]

Official: Isuzu has announced that the MU-7 SUV and the D-Max pickup truck will be manufactured under contract by Hindustan Motors at the latter’s heavily under utilized facility at Thiruvallur, Chennai.

Hindustan Motors has been assembling the Mitsubishi vehicles at the mentioned plant. Now that Mitsubishi has discontinued the Lancer, Cedia, Pajero and Outlander models, the plant caters only to the Pajero Sport and the Montero.

On the other hand, Isuzu has been test marketing its two products in Coimbatore and Hyderabad. The company has proposed to build a factory in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile, it will use HM’s plant to assemble the Isuzu MU-7 and Isuzu D-Max.




This is what Isuzu India's president had to say:


"The collaboration with Hindustan Motors will support us by carrying out assembly of our products at Thiruvallur which is about 70 kms from Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, where our own local manufacturing facility is planned to come up. We can thereby advance the scope of our sales operations and increase the scale of supply volumes without waiting for our local manufacturing facility to be ready."


Source:http://www.indianautosblog.com/2013/...facility-84483


Cheers,

Achyuth

[rahul4321]

That black Isuzu looks amazing. I am not sure which one it is; the MU-7 or the D-Max. With Mitsubishi ceasing to produce the Lancer, the Cedia and now the Outlander, i am sure they have quite a lot of capacity to spare. I am now reminded of the Isuzu Trooper whose poster i had on my bedroom wall when i was a child. I would surely like to drive one some day- if they ever get to Gujarat!

[tosathyas]

How does this contract manufacturing work? Probably just assemble the SKDs?

I thought one of the reasons for companies not brining in more models were due to the cost associated with it. Right from getting the die-cast (hope I said right) for getting the body to the molds that are required to get the various body parts, everything would be a costly set-up. How come HM is managing?

Also why couldn't auto majors like Mitsubishi, Fiat survive in India. Is it due to lack of focus that they have or the difference between the mindset of people vs mindset of company.

[kingofmyworld]

Isuzu started its operations in india with it's first showroom in hyderabad. I've been to the showroom and had a good look at the car. Robust car!

First imrpessions :

- HEAVY build.
- Sad looking alloys.
- Huge wheel arches. Will fit a 22" Hummer H2 alloy.
- Spacious.
- No 4x4 option yet.
- Few panel gaps here and there.
- plastics look good. Not great but on par with its competitors.
- Last row space isn't so impressive if you consider sitting in it.
- Yes, You feel like a King of the road when u drive it.

I had a chat with the sales guy who knew his job and the car pretty well. ISUZU played well with this. Im not sure how true this is butthis is what I heard from him. It seems indian customs and import duties have a clause that states that customs would be less if the ar is not equipped with AC. No AC will make the SUV fall in a different category and hence less import duties. ISUZU made arrangements locally for an AC unit for its SUV. That's how the pricing was kept low though it was a CBU. If this is true, People at ISUZU did some serious research on indian customs and its loop holes. :P

Upgrading the wheels will surely make the car look WILD!

[Bingeljell]

Haha! I hope the no A/C making a car import cheaper loop hole is true!

Isn't this also good for those who might want to purchase an isuzu engine to muck about with their custom builds? At least in the long run?

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by kingofmyworld

It seems indian customs and import duties have a clause that states that customs would be less if the ar is not equipped with AC. No AC will make the SUV fall in a different category and hence less import duties. ISUZU made arrangements locally for an AC unit for its SUV. That's how the pricing was kept low though it was a CBU. If this is true, People at ISUZU did some serious research on indian customs and its loop holes. :P
!

It's the D-Max you are talking about. The Mu-7 pays the full taxes and duty that's why it's 22lacs. Since there is a loophole for CVs, the D-max pays only 10% instead of the 103% IIMR, maybe the absence of A/C is a requirement for a CV to be imported i guess. (Makes me wonder, remember reading that 10+ seater are also exempted. So Hiace and all can be imported just like that? Maybe Mahindra will get a good deal with the 11 seater version of the Ssangyong Rodius.)

Any way good that they are not waiting till the factory is up and running and making most of the opportunity. Now for the showrooms have to sprung up if the ywant real numbers and proper marketing at least this time.

The website is up and running, but doesn't give info about the most important thing- THE Products!!!

[kingofmyworld]

Aahhh, Finally some clarity. I wonder why the sales guy was telling me the pickup's import tactics when I was only interested in knowing about MU-7. Maybe the sales guy was misinformed.

[IshaanIan]

I've seen this monster (MU-7) a few times in my city. First there was the Endeavour and all the Pajeros, then came the assault of the huge Fortuners but this, is genuinely 'American' sized was going on a sloped road the first time I saw this in my rear view mirror it scared me in the Kizashi xD
Also it looks a LOT better in person not at all tacky like photos might suggest.
Got serious road presence.

[AyAn!]

With some chromed 19"s, that'll be a proper poor man's Esclade.

[JayPrashanth]

Link to News Section

Indian automaker Hindustan Motors, a part of the C.K. Birla group, will contract manufacture (assemble) the Isuzu D-Max pick up truck and MU-7 SUV at its Tiruvallur factory, off Chennai. Hindustan Motors is saddled with additional capacity at the Tiruvallur factory as it has stopped producing three cars: the Lancer, Cedia and Pajero SFX. These cars, along with the Outlander, have been discontinued from the Indian car market.



Also, Hindustan Motors's Tiruvallur facility has been operating at a reduced output for a while now as the automaker's car making operation with Mitsubishi hasn't been doing well at the hustings. Isuzu and Hindustan Motors have a history of co-operation. Hindustan Motors collaborated with Isuzu for the 1.8 liter petrol and 2 liter diesel engines, used in cars such as the Ambassador and the now-discontinued Contessa.



The contract manufacturing arrangement that Hindustan Motors has bagged from Isuzu will be a temporary one. Japanese automaker Isuzu, for its part, is putting together a brand new factory at Sri City, in Andhra Pradesh (strategically situated at the Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh border). The factory will be ready to produce cars by 2015, until when the D-Max and MU-7 will be assembled by Hindustan Motors at Tiruvallur.

The SUV and pick up trucks will arrive from Thailand, in the form of completely knocked down (CKD) kits, which will in turn be assembled by Hindustan Motors into fully built cars. The CKD assembly operations through the contract manufacturing route are aimed at giving Isuzu a footprint in the Indian car market by allowing the car maker to begin operations even before its own manufacturing facility gets up to steam.



Also, CKD assembly could mean cost efficiencies for Isuzu. However, it remains unclear as to whether Isuzu will drop prices of its products assembled through the CKD route. Isuzu choosing Hindustan Motors for CKD assembly of the D-Max and MU-7 could have to do with the fact that Chennai, a major port city on India's east coast, makes for convenient logistics as the CKD kits arrive from Thailand. This strategy is also evident in the location of Isuzu's upcoming factory at Sri City.



Currently, Isuzu's two model range is sold through two dealerships at Hyderabad and Coimbatore. The Isuzus currently sold in India have been imported as completely built units (CBU). Isuzu plans to take the dealership count to 10 by the end of 2013. The next Isuzu dealership will be situated at Chennai. Isuzu is actively seeking entrepreneurs to establish dealerships in different cities of the country. Here's a link to the Isuzu India Website.

[vinair]

Why aren't these guys (Isuzu and Mitsubishi) still not very serious about the Indian market? I mean why do they need HM to still hand hold them? HM itself has no clue about its existence and has the might to convince two powerful brands to join hands with it!! Isuzu has a presence with the Indian crowd from a long time and again recently in the commercial space through their buses. Then why does it want to partner with HM???

[Latheesh]

After the suicidal act by Mitsubishi another Japanese company doing the same mistake!

[CBlazer]

Originally Posted by JayPrashanth

The contract manufacturing arrangement that Hindustan Motors has bagged from Isuzu will be a temporary one. Japanese automaker Isuzu, for its part, is putting together a brand new factory at Sri City, in Andhra Pradesh (strategically situated at the Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh border). The factory will be ready to produce cars by 2015, until when the D-Max and MU-7 will be assembled by Hindustan Motors at Tiruvallur.

Originally Posted by Latheesh

After the suicidal act by Mitsubishi another Japanese company doing the same mistake!

To be fair, Isuzu will go solo from 2015 (as per the post). Moreover, this is only a manufacturing contract. I don't think HM will sell Isuzus.

[johny_desparado]

After nearly,channelling mitsubishi to their grave , now they have got into a alliance with Isuzu . Just wondering who in their right minds would form an alliance with Hindustan motors ! Hope they walk out of this before getting into some deep muck like mitsubishi, i brand i adore so much .

[rohanjf]

I believe there is a difference in how Mitsubishi and Isuzu are associated with HM. I do not think Isuzu is relying on HM to make such business decisions as what cars to sell or where to open dealerships. They are only using HM's facilities to assemble their cars. I am sure the deal is such that HM is contractually bound to assemble a certain number of cars per month, provided Isuzu gives them the CKD kits on time.