Tata Motors South Africa (TMSA) hopes to double its annual output at its Rosslyn truck plant, in Pretoria, over the next two years, says CEO Ashish Sharma.

Current output is around 1 000 trucks a year on a single shift.

The Tata truck plant opened in 2011, producing trucks of 3.5 t gross vehicle mass and above, which translates into participation in the medium, heavy and extra-heavy commercial vehicle (MCV, HCV and XHCV respectively) segments.

The trucks produced by TMSA are distributed in South Africa by Tata Automobile Corporation, a subsidiary of Tata Africa. No trucks are exported.

“I’d be interested in growing my numbers outside South Africa,” says Sharma. “We want to grow our factory volumes.

“We can manufacture trucks for other African markets. I am currently studying free-trade agreements and duty arrangements within Southern Africa, looking for the benefits of building trucks here and exporting them into Africa.”

The plant has the capacity to assemble 2 000 trucks a year on a single shift.

Sharma says the Tata group would like to use South Africa as the hub from which to grow the presence of its truck brand on the continent.

He believes TMSA can also increase production by improving extra-heavy truck sales.

The XHCV segment is the fastest-growing segment in the South African truck market.

TMSA sales are currently more weighted towards the MCV and HCV segments, with 8 t and 15 t payload trucks being the company’s biggest sellers.

TMSA has, however, started a trial assembly at Rosslyn of the Novus XHCV truck, which is a Tata Daewoo product from South Korea.

“We are looking at the benefits of assembling that truck in South Africa,” notes Sharma.

“We would like to cater for all the segments of the South African market. Tata has an extensive product range that offers value for money as well as state-of-the-art products.”

TMSA currently employs 65 people at the Rosslyn plant.