Lohr to make car transport trailers in India

Venkatachari Jagannathan
12 January 2008

Chennai: The €350-million French car trailer manufacturer Lohr Industries is in the process of setting up a car carrier- trailer plant to make cars-carrier trailers at Pune, in a 51:49 joint venture with Belgium's Stokota group.

The two are in the process of incorporating a new joint venture company, Lohr India Auto Transport.

"Already $2 million has been invested in the project and production is expected to start this April," says Philippe Fortmann, CEO, Lohr. "We require around 20 acre land for the project. In two years time the total investment would be around $5 million."

Lohr India plans to roll out 100 trailers per month and employ around 150 workers by 2009.

With almost all global passenger car makers setting up production base in India, Lohr Industries has decided to follow them, many of whom are its customers, to India.

Fortmann says the trailers that transport passenger cars in India do not comply with legal stipulations. "The length of a trailer should not be more than 18 metres and the maximum height should be 4.75 metres. The majority of the car-carrying trailers exceed the stipulation to carry fewer cars.