NEW DELHI, DEC 4: The famed Jeep and grand Cherokee multi-utility vehicles of US auto major Chrysler may well hit Indian roads in the near future as Mercedes Benz India Ltd (MBIL) is considering introducing these vehicles in the country.MBIL's plan is the outcome of the worldwide merger - the fourth largest in corporate history - between Germany-based Daimler Benz and Chrysler to form Daimler-Chrysler, a company official said here."We have already started studies to find out whether Jeep and grand Cherokee can be brought to India. These are certainly two products from Chrysler that we are looking at," said MBIL vice president Jurgen Ziegler. Ziegler said MBIL, the joint venture between Mercedes Benz and Telco, was planning to introduce vehicles in the segments that were not yet targeted in India. "Currently we have no vehicle in India in the category of above Rs ten lakh and below Rs 20 lakh," he added."This segment is yet to be established in India, and we are planning to place brands fromMercedes and Chrysler here," Ziegler said. If MBIL rolls out jeep in India, that would be the second coming of the vehicle to the country. Mahindra & Mahindra was earlier using the Jeep brand name on its utility vehicles under a licence agreement with Chrysler.However, Chrysler recently restrained the Mahindras from using the brand name by taking back the rights. Ziegler said though small car market was booming in India, MBIL had no plans to introduce Mercedes' small car `A class' in the country. MBIL currently manufactures the `E-class' luxury cars and 15-seater vans at its Pune manufacturing facility.The company sold only 552 vehicles in April-October this year as against 2,343 units it sold during the same period last year, according to figures by Association of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (AIAM).Ziegler said MBIL would sell 800 vehicles in the current fiscal and would maintain the same level in next year as well. As part of its understanding with TELCO, MBIL would move out of TELCO's Pimprimanufacturing facility to a newly designed plant at Chikhli near Pune in the middle of this month, he said.Asked about MBIL's investment plans, he said the company had only recently received the Foreign Investment Promotion Board's (FIPB) approval to bring in Rs 150 crore.
