Navistar Inc recently celebrated the launch of its first commercial trucks for the Indian market.
At the 10th India Auto Expo in Delhi, Mahindra-Navistar Automotives Ltd (MNAL), the commercial vehicle joint venture between Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (M&M) of India and Navistar, unveiled a line of commercial trucks and tractors in equivalent GVW ranges of 56,000 to 109,000 pounds.
The trucks have been designed, developed, and tested for Indian roads and conditions and are capable of negotiating tough terrain.
In 2005, Mahindra & Mahindra and Navistar entered into the MNAL joint venture to manufacture light, medium, and heavy commercial vehicles for India as well as export markets. The joint venture plans to expand its product line further over the next two years to emerge as a full-range commercial vehicle player from 3.5-ton to 49-ton GVW with variants of passenger transport, cargo, and specialized load applications.
Both Navistar and Mahindra & Mahindra have taken on shared responsibilities as part of the joint venture, lending each other's expertise where appropriate. The product development for this new family of vehicles was handled by Navistar with Navistar's team working with MNAL engineers to bring North American technology into the Indian market.
The Mahindra-Navistar range of medium and heavy commercial vehicles will be manufactured at Mahindra & Mahindra's new Greenfield plant at Chakan, near Pune. The plant, which spans more than 700 acres, has been set up with investments by Mahindra & Mahindra of more than $857 million and also will produce other Mahindra & Mahindra products.
In addition to the existing network of dealers, MNAL is adding 50 new dealers across India and will also draw on the pool of Mahindra & Mahindra auto and tractor channel partners to use as an extended network.
At the heart of the 40- and 49-ton trucks is Navistar's MaxxForce 7.2 liter CRDI engine. With four-valve-per-cylinder technology, the engine has been designed for better performance, higher power, better fuel efficiency, and stricter adherence to Indian and Euro emission standards.