The Hindu Business Line : Tata Motors attracts more African interest

TATA Motors, which won a $19-million tender for supplying 500 buses to Senegal and recently set up a body building facility there to aid the process, has been approached by a few more nations of Francophone Africa for similar units, Mr Ravi Kant, Executive Director, told journalists at the company's Pune plant during a visit by Mr Abdoulaye Wade, President of Senegal, here on Sunday.

Last month's inauguration of the bus body plant at Thies in Senegal, built with technical assistance from Tata Motors, was attended by Mr Wade as also the Presidents of Ivory Coast, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Cape-Verde and Mauritania. Asked about the evolving relation with Tata Motors, Mr Wade said, it dealt for the moment with buses but there is also interest in his country to assemble small cars for use as taxis.

Later, alluding to a project he has thought of over the last several years, Mr Wade said the Tatas could possibly be sounded out for the plan to have an African peoples' car. "Many African countries know about this project," he said.

According to Mr Ravi Kant, Africa is an important market in export plans drawn up by Tata Motors. From a commercial vehicles business point of view, South Africa is placed as the southern node for its African foray, Senegal emerging now as its equivalent in the west. The company will create similar hubs for Africa's eastern and northern regions.

"We are well prepared to create products and [have the] technical know-how to meet the needs of these markets," he said, adding the company would be able to offer it at a lower cost.

While the next phase in Senegal would be to assemble bus chassis, Tata Motors is among bidders in the final run for a major bus order there seeking to replace 1,00,000 taxis over the next four years, called the South African Taxi Project. Final bids were put in on September 12 and separate negotiations are expected to commence shortly for 18-seaters and 35-seaters. Should the company prove successful then the need to indigenise over the ensuing 12-18 months may see the installation of an assembly line.

Even otherwise, Tata Motors intends to launch a wider portfolio of its commercial vehicles in South Africa, the process hoped to eventually lead to car sales, Mr Ravi Kant said. About 40 dealers from that country were recently at the Pune plant and product clinics have been done with dealers, operators and customers. "By the first quarter of next year we should be having a full range of products in South Africa," he said.

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