Hindustan Motors Ltd, (HM) India''s oldest car maker, says it will introduce a new variant of Mitsubishi Motor''s Montero SUV, as well as another vehicle with Mitsubishi, though it did not specify any other details of the proposed other vehicle..

Hindustan Motors makes Mitsubishi''s Lancer, Cedia and Pajero vehicles at its plant near Chennai, while it imports the Montero from Japan, and retails it for around Rs34 lakh, before taxes.

The company said that it was selling 30 units a month of a previous model of the Montero, which it had introduced in the Indian market in August.

"The demand for the car is now good. In January, we launched a new model and expect the sales to pick up as people experience more and more of that version," Ravi Santhanam, the firm''s managing director, told reporters

Earlier in June, Ford Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. launched new models of their SUVs, the Endeavour and Scorpio respectively.

HM, which reopened its plant in West Bengal in May after a month-long strike by workers, said production of its Ambassador, in production since 1957 and once the best selling car in India with a 70-per cent market share, was returning to 1,000 vehicles per month.