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Till
about two years ago, India was no different from other less
developed countries in one crucial aspect: it had not designed
and produced a car indigenously. India's case was even more
curious: the country had sent missiles into space but had
not been able to produce an indigenous car. That situation
changed with the launch of the Tata Indica in December 1998.
Mr Ratan Tata shared the details of the project to give some
idea of its magnitude:
- Total
number of engineers who worked on the Indica project: 700.
- Time
taken from conception to completion: 31 months.
- Number
of components specially developed for the Indica: 3,885
- Number
of dies specially manufactured for the Indica: 740
- Number
of production fixtures created for the Indica: 4,010
- Cost
of the project: Rs 1,700 crore, sub-divided into: development
Rs 206 crore, tooling Rs 74 crore, and plant Rs 1,420 crore.
But
can Tata Engineering compete with global majors? This is what
the company is asking itself. Almost all global majors, are
present in the Indian market: General Motors (Opel-Astra),
Ford (Escort, Ikon), Hyundai (Accent, Santro), Daewoo (Cielo,
Matiz), Fiat (Uno, Sienna), DaimlerChrysler (Mercedes), Suzuki
(Maruti 800, Zen, Esteem, Baleno and Alto) and Mitsibushi
(Lancer). All these car makers have introduced products in
the Indian market that they have developed abroad. Moreover,
these manufacturers have already been through the learning
curve that Tata Engineering is currently going through.
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