Fuelled by high hopes of economic and construction boom in the context of upcoming World Cup Football 2010 in South Africa, Tata Motors hopes to sell 5,270 vehicles in the country this fiscal compared with 4,002 in last fiscal.
Tata Motors subsidiary Tata Automobile Corporation of South Africa (Pty) Ltd also plans to introduce new models of vehicles to supplement this growth projection.
"TACSA sold 4,002 units in the last financial year compared to 199 units in the year 2001-02. This fiscal, we are looking at selling over 5,000 vehicles," said Sudhir Babshet, General Manager, TACSA.
According to industry analysts, the construction industry is booming in the light of upcoming World Cup 2010 in the country.
"The introduction of models like concrete mixer, truck tractor, cargo truck and tipper versions will immensely help Tatas. The maximum selling model is four tonne payload vehicle in the South African market," they said.
Toyota, Mercedes and Nissan, which have presence over 70 years in South Africa, are the key competitors for the company.
Babshet said the company is planning to introduce several new models during 2006-07, including vehicles of six tonner, 25 tonner, 18 seater bus, 40 seater bus, 65 seater bus and different tipper versions.
"At present, we have 43 dealers across the country. We are planning to add at least 20 more dealers in next two years. This year alone we will add six dealers," Babshet said.
He said the company is actively looking at acquiring land and infrastructure in Johannesburg or Pretoria in South Africa for enhancing and upgrading its assembling plants in the country with an estimated investment of $28 million.
The company is in the process of entering into Zimbabwe market. "TACSA may float a subsidiary company called Tata Zimbabwe Ltd shortly to boost our presence in that country," he said.
"Presently, we have presence in South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland. We have just started our operations in Namibia and we will now expand in to Zimbabwe," Babshet added.
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