D*MO To Launch Local Vehicle

[Le Sabre]

Diesel and Motor Engineering PLC (D*MO) will soon produce a locally-assembled vehicle for the local market to be sold under a million rupees next year – the second local vehicle to hit the market after the Micro Car series.

"We will call it D*MO Magic or D*MO Janarathaya and will be targeted at the lower end of the market," Ranjith Pandithage, Chairman/Managing Director/CEO, D*MO told the Sunday Times FT. He said the main focus next year will be assembling this ‘people's vehicle', a passenger version of D*MO’s locally-produced commercial vehicle, D*MO Butta that was launched sometime ago. Parts for the hard-top, seven seater vehicle will come from India’s Tata Group. “We are targeting to cost it below Rs 1 million but we need to ‘negotiate’ the (exorbitant) taxes,” he said.

[HardHat]

"We will call it D*MO Magic or D*MO Janarathaya

hope they will come us with a better name for the vehicle as both the above sugesstions may not be appealing in a marketing persective

[samishka]

This vehicle is sold in India as TATA MAGIC (Passenger version of TATA ACE / D*MO Batta). It is marketed as a Rural Passenger Transport Vehicle.

Since it has only 8 seats (including the driver's), in Sri Lanka it falls into Customs Duty bracket of vans / MUVs. At the same time being a Diesel vehicle, our government charges an exorbitant Customs Duty. This in turn translates into a price of nearly 3 Million.

When I asked a sales person from D*MO sometime ago, whether they have launched this vehicle here, he told me that it is not feasible due to the higher Customs Duty and instead they are planning to install a locally made passenger cabin (like in a Motor Wagon) on the TATA ACE / D*MO Batta. Further he told, by this way the vehicle can be sold for nearly 1.2 Million, but it has to be registered as a LORRY.

Now it seems D*MO is planning to assemble the real TATA MAGIC.

[madmax]

Almost the same as a D*MO Batta. I bet it'll be like riding in a Piaggio diesel three wheeler.

http://magic-tatamotors.com/ace-web/index.htm

[terrabytetango]

It's exactly like riding in a Piaggio three wheeler, only less comfy because the Piaggio comes coil sprung with IRS. And you can forget about a radio and A/C; there's no point having the former because the clatter from the engine will drown it, and the latter isn't even an option. I've seen the Tata Magic used as taxis in India, and they were all equipped with soft tops. Also, these things only put out 16hp, which literally makes them a 4 wheeled auto rickshaw. I can't imagine even the local rural people using these as the family vehicle, for the cost they'd more than happily invest in a mini van. Now, if D*MO decided to release the CNG version instead, then we'd have something to talk about.