New Delhi, Oct. 2: Automobile air-conditioning firm Sanden Vikas India plans to invest Rs 200 crore in expansion.

The company will set up a manufacturing facility in Uttarakhand and expand its facilities in Faridabad.

The Uttarakhand unit will manufacture air-conditioning systems for Tata Motors’ Ace Microbus, which is likely to debut in the first quarter of the next fiscal.

Ace Microbus is a passenger vehicle version of Tata Motors’ mini truck Ace.

“We plan to manufacture about 30,000 units per annum. They will be initially produced at our Faridabad plant, but next year we will start production at Uttarakhand. This factory will be exclusively for Tata Motors since it will be near their base,” said Praveen Aggarwal, managing director of Sanden Vikas.

Sanden Vikas is a 50:50 joint venture between Sanden Corporation of Japan and Vikas Group. The company will invest about Rs 20 crore in the Uttarakhand unit.

Industry sources say the seven-seater Microbus will compete with the Maruti Omni.

The sources said the engine for the Microbus would be more powerful than the mini truck’s engine.

On Sanden Vikas’s expansion plans, Aggarwal said the company would invest Rs 150-200 crore in the next four years to increase production of air-conditioners and compressors.

The production of compressors will be increased to one million units from 3 lakhs and that of air-conditioners to 5 lakh units from 2 lakhs.

The company is also considering the option of going public to fund its expansion plans.

In addition to the Tatas, the company’s clients include Maruti, Ford, Mahindra & Mahindra, Honda Siel and Fiat.

Aggarwal said the company would start producing variable compressors.