Mitsubishi says 'No Thank You' for HM Chennai plant
Hindustan Motors (HM) is under process to sell or lease their Chennai car plant to a separate body – Hindustan Motor Finance Corporation (HMFC ltd.). The company is under heavy losses lately courtesy to the minuscule sales of the Ambassador - a five decade old design and Winner a small truck made in collaboration with a Chinese manufacturer - Shandong Shifen. The company has HQ at Calcutta – and the inverters nodded are for Rs 150 crore – to gain lost grounds. Mitsubishi, on the other hand declined the offer when HM was searching for a good inverter for the Chennai manufacturing facility.
The company recently introduced BS4 variant of the unstoppable Amby – Ambassador Encore with price tag of under Rs 5 lakh. The BS4 variant helped the car to go on sale in the cites where the sale stopped after 2010 BS4 regulation. The company also said, they will be bringing sub-4m Amby to entice more customers and get the excise cut. The car comes in both petrol and diesel Isuzu motors. The Ambassador variants and Winner are produced at the Kolkata plant – the main manufacturing facility of HM.
The CK Birla group company is also in collaboration with Mitsubishi Motors Japan and Isuzu Motors. The Chennai plant is a busy place, producing Mitsubishi Pajero Sport through CKD kits and recently the company is also manufacturing Isuzu MU-7 premium SUV and D-Max utility vehicles (showcased at the 2014 Indian Auto Expo).