Investors in Japan are eagerly looking at the visit of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu from November 24 to 28, said Isuzu Motors India Private Limited president and managing director Takeshi Kikuchi on Monday.
Mr. Kikuchi, who headed a team from Isuzu’s Indian facility coming up at Sri City in Chittoor comprising EVP and Deputy Managing Director Shigeru Wakabayashi and General Manager (Communications) Shankar Srinivas, was here to hand over keys of five D-Max pickup vehicles to Mr. Naidu for cyclone restoration work. The vehicles will be used by Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation.
Mr. Kikuchi, who will be part of delegation from AP to Japan, said his country was very keen to listen to the plans of Mr. Naidu to develop AP post-bifurcation. Mr. Naidu during his tour will address India IT Forum in Kyoto, a seminar by Shizuka Government and visit Chiba smart city and Yokohoma Port.
On the facility being developed by them at Sri City at Tada, close to Chennai, he said they were investing Rs.3,000 crore on their Indian manufacturing facility. By 2016, they have prepared a roadmap to achieve a production capacity of 50,000 and raise it to 1.20 lakh units in subsequent three to four years.
Paints rosy picturePainting a rosy picture about growth of pickup truck market in India, he said the pickup truck segment had beaten recessionary trend. “It has grown from one lakh units in 2010 to four lakhs today. As per projections, in next 10 years, it will grow to eight lakh units,” he stated.
To a question, he said with total sourcing of entire components locally, their focus would be to cater to the domestic market. If required, the company would also explore export potential, he added.
