New Delhi, Feb. 16: Tatra Vectra Motors Limited (TVML) will invest about Rs 100 crore to expand the capacity of its plant in Tamil Nadu. The company wants to make India its export hub for right-hand drive vehicles.

“The objective is to export trucks from India and cater to the right-hand drive markets. We also want to expand our range in the domestic market. This will need an investment of approximately Rs 80-100 crore in Hosur (Tamil Nadu) by the end of this year,” R.K. Rishi, chairman, Vectra group, told The Telegraph.

This will take TVML’s total investment in its existing facility to about Rs 180 crore. This facility currently produces off-road trucks.

The company will soon export about 300 off-highway trucks to Australia. Later, it will also meet the demands of Indonesia and South Africa, said Rishi. Last year, TVML exported about 32 sample trucks to Indonesia.

TVML is a 90:10 joint venture between the Vectra Group of the UK and Tatra a.s. of Czech Republic.

“We have a shortage of capacity in our Czech factory. In addition, production in India is cost effective and, therefore, it is competitive to export from here. There is a big market in Australia and we already have an order from them,” he said.

The company plans to launch a range of semi-off road trucks by the middle of this year. “We are likely to launch on-road trucks in 2008,” said Rishi.

The Hosur plant has a production capacity of 1,000 vehicles per annum and this will go up to 3,000 trucks according to the expansion plans.

The facility includes an engine assembly and testing plant, a cabin welding shop, seat manufacturing, a frame fabrication shop and a test track.

Last year in November, a consortium led by Vectra Limited acquired a controlling stake of 91.6 per cent in Tatra a.s. The consortium comprised the private equity arm of Belgian bank KBC and two other American investors.

The consortium purchased the 80.5 per cent equity stake held by Terex Corporation of the US for $57.8 million.

Tatra a.s is a part of Terex Corporation. Earlier, Vectra held an 11.1 per cent stake of Tatra a.s.

Vectra Group has varied business interests in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, CIS, Singapore and India. Tatra is a $300-million Czech truck manufacturer producing heavy-duty off-road trucks.