75-ton Trucks: Them’s some big Tatas

MUMBAI, India — There is a world truck; And it’s from India. At least that’s what its maker says.

Tata Motors, famous for making the world’s least expensive car (just over 2Gs), says it’s going to give Volvo, Daimler and other mainstream OEMs a run for their money in the big-truck market.

The Indian automaker announced this week that in partnership with South Korea’s Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicles, Tata will be producing "world" trucks that will be marketed to South Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia. The first trucks should roll off the assembly lines this fall.

According to reports in The New York Times and the Hindu Business Line, the Tata trucks will have capacities ranging from 10 tons to a whopping 75 tons.

But they’re probably not going to sell like chapatis any time soon. Like everywhere else in the universe, truck sales in India have sunk, falling by almost 30 percent over the past year.

However, the Indian government’s pouring mega-rupees into highways, bridges and roads — the expanded road infrastructure is making it possible to roll the bigger trucks out in the first place — so Tata officials think now is the ideal time to be ramping up.

"The world truck range will have a strong role to play in the recovery of commercial vehicle market," Ravi Pisharody, Vice-President, Sales & Marketing, Commercial Vehicles told the Hindu Business Line , adding, "we are bringing trucks in India to the levels of developed countries."