Tata Motors executive director Ravi Kant with the Ace in Bangalore on Thursday. (PTI)

Bangalore, May 5: Tata Motors Ltd today rolled out an indigenously designed multi-utility mini-truck, Tata Ace, marking its foray into the compact commercial vehicle segment.

The mini-truck will be launched by chairman Ratan Tata here tomorrow, where he will announce the price of the vehicle.

Designed for the urban and rural sectors, the mini-truck is capable of ferrying 650 kg of goods with a maximum speed of 65 km per hour.

The truck is powered by a twin cylinder 16BHP 1700CC diesel engine and gives an average mileage of 20 km per litre.

At the rollout, Ravi Kant, executive director of Tata Motors, said the new vehicle would service the last-mile distribution network.

?The Ace bears testimony to the company’s efforts to identify new categories and develop logistics solutions to improve the lives of the people. With the Prime Minister’s Grameen Sadak Yojana that would link all villages to state and national highways, we see a huge potential for our mini trucks. These trucks can be customised for transporting multiple goods and services,? Kant said.

While heavy commercial vehicles and other pick-up vehicles are used to transport bulk cargo on expressways between states or cities, which act as hubs, mini-trucks like Ace will bridge the gap for the last-mile distribution, he added.

The Pune-based company had started the mini-truck project three years ago. It had invested about Rs 180 crore on the design, development and manufacture of Ace.

Tata Motors has an installed production base of 30,000 units per annum at the facility. The production capacity could be doubled as and when there is a demand. The company, however, declined to project any sales target or market share for the first year of the launch.

Kant said the vehicle would be customised to carry LPG cylinders, vegetables and fruits, poultry, meat, fish or general goods.

The mini-truck will be launched in a phased manner in the southern states with a 36,000 km/12 month warranty and service points in small towns.