Ideal Motors, a fully owned subsidiary of the Ideal Group, has commended constructing their factory in Kalutara to locally assemble new compact Mahindra SUV, the KUV100, and vehicle in Sri Lanka.
The company has also entered into a JV with Mahindra and Mahindra, a part of the US$19 billion Mahindra Group based in India.
Ideal Motors has been a Mahindra distributor for the last nine years and Mahindra will hold a 35% stake in the JV, while Ideal Motors will have 65%.
Sanjay Jadhav, Vice President, head of international operations - AFS (South Asia), Mahindra and Mahindra, speaking to Daily News Business said that the production would commence early next year and the first KUV100, vehicle is expected to be rolled out by April 2019. We hope to assemble around 2,000 vehicles per year and also export it to the region. Sri Lanka is one of Mahindra’s top three export markets and this is why we decided to have this plant in Sri Lanka. “We will also ensure over 30% of value addition in Sri Lanka and increase it gradually.”
The local components that would be used are tyres, batteries, seats, seat covers, rubber parts and other components.
Nalin Welgama, Founder and Executive Chairman Ideal Group, said that the new facility will not only contribute to human capital development but will also enable collective development of local automotive components manufacturers to international standards under the global expertise of Mahindra.
He said that they have already started training some of the local auto component manufactures to be part of their supply chain. We will create a, Automotive Vendor Park and they would also be able to export these components for the global market, thereby creating a new industry to Sri Lanka.
He said that the total investment for the project would be close to Rs. 3 billion and it would have the ‘Made in Sri Lanka’ Tag in it. “We hope to market KUV100 vehicle around Rs. 3 million.”