Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors, will export vehicles to Pakistan.
The company has signed a technical assistance agreement with Pakistan-based Afzal Motors for this purpose.
The broad contours of the agreement suggest that Afzal Motors will import completely knocked down vehicles from the Tata firm and assemble them in Pakistan.
Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle President KO Chae and Afzal Motors CEO Muhammad Ghufran signed the agreement in Karachi on Monday. The Tata Motors scrip closed at Rs 623.65 on the Bombay Stock Exchange today, up 0.73 per cent.
Assembling of Tata trucks in Pakistan, to commence by the last quarter of 2006 at Afzal Motors' new plant, is possibly a first-of-its-kind exercise by an Indian automobile company.
Several other companies, including Bajaj Auto and Kinetic Motors, are in the process of exporting products through joint ventures with local players.
The assembly plant has a designed capacity to produce 3,000 commercial vehicles a year on a single-shift basis.
The assembly of Tata products, including the Novus range of trucks, will provide customers better vehicles at competitive prices, said a Tata Motors release.
Tata Motors exports to South Africa, European countries, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
During April-November, the company sold 2.70 lakh vehicles. It exported 31,374 vehicles during the period.
Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle is the second largest manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks in South Korea, with a manufacturing facility at Gunsan.