Telco to slash Indica production in April

new delhi: the surge in demand for the money-spinner small car indica notwithstanding, tata engineering has decided to cut production at its pune plant in april. the firm attributed the temporary cut in production to a revamp exercise being initiated at the plant to pave way for the launch of indica sedan by september this year, followed by the indica estate.indica supplies, the firm said, will see a temporary dip in april in line with the planned lower production. the plant is scheduled to resume full production in the third week of april and would be fully operational in the month of may. “the pune plant is being upgraded and modified to create greater flexibilities and to handle variants of a common platform, a higher level of robotisation in the weld lines, as also enhancing the engine shop facilities to prepare for the volume manufacture of the new turbo-powered diesel engines as well as the higher performance petrol engines. so, the plant would be shut down in parts for specific periods of time,� a company official said. the firm, however, intends to ramp up production in the subsequent months to meet the order backlog and also achieve the annual sales target for 2002-03. meanwhile, telco has rolled out two new motorsport cars — zero and double zero pace —based on indica. the petrol ‘indica rally’ has been especially prepared for the rally with a “roll cage, sump guards, and underbody skit plates� on the existing indica structure, telco executive director v sumantran said. the cars would be driven by the fastest indian narain karthikeyan. though the cars have been launched, their commercial production is slated for the year-end. “this is a concept to showcase indian engineering skills to compete with international standards,� sumantran added. meanwhile, telco, having already sold off over rs 400 crore worth of non-core investments, is now in the process identifying other projects that it intends to exit. it has already initiated the process of washing its hands of its equity holding in bridgestone acc india.