Wednesday, February 08, 2012
By Pawan Rana
Fiat plans full capacity utilization at Ranjangaon plant
With the demand for the cars is giving an indication of revival in the near future, the Indian unit of the Italian car maker Fiat is all set to enhance the utilization of its Ranjangaon manufacturing facility. In January 2012, two major diesel engine and car sourcing companies of Fiat India – Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors – a considerable surge in demand in the domestic market.
At present, the Ranjangaon manufacturing facility of Fiat is about 70 percent utilized and the company aims to increase this to optimal levels by the end of this year. The total capacity at this plant is 2,00,000 cars and 3,50,000 engines per annum.
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According to the Tata Motors Assistant General Manager, Mr. Piyush Lall, the full capacity utilization of the Ranjangaon manufacturing facility would be depending on the overall demand in the market along with the requirements from the Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors.
Besides this, Fiat India will need more cars and engines for its own portfolio cars Fiat Punto and Fiat Linea, both which were recently launched in new generation versions. The company is expecting its sales figures to go up to 22,000 units in year 2012, as compared to 18,000 units sold in the calendar year 2011.
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Fiat India supplies 1.3L diesel engines to Maruti Suzuki from this plant, which are being offered in a range of cars of the company including Maruti Swift, Maruti Ritz, Maruti Swift Dzire and Maruti SX4. On the other hand, a range of Tata Motors Indian portfolio cars are manufactured at the same facility.
In last few months, the demand for diesel run cars has been shooting upwards due to a considerable rise in the petrol prices in the Indian market. Thus, demand for cars from both Maruti and Tata Portfolio has been on a rise.
