Tata Motors acquires 50.3% stake in Norway’s Miljø Grenland/Innovasjon

Tata Motors’ UK subsidiary, Tata Motors European Technical Centre plc (TMETC), has acquired a 50.3% holding in the Norway-based in Miljø Grenland/Innovasjon, at an acquisition cost of Rs 9.4 crore. The balance of shares will be retained by the existing shareholders, who will continue to be associated with the venture.

Miljø Grenland/Innovasjon specializes in the development of solutions for electric vehicles, and will now produce EVs based on Tata Motors’ products. The company will also manufacture state-of-the-art super polymer lithium-ion batteries and carry on development work in related technologies.

Tata Motors believes that this investment in Miljø will help the company realise its strategy to develop convenient, affordable and sustainable mobility solutions through electric and hybrid vehicles. Tata and Miljø will, in fact, work towards launching the battery-powered Indica EV in Europe next year.

The Indica EV will be capable of carrying four people, will have adequate luggage space, and will have a range of up to 200km on a single, full charge. It will also offer acceptable performance, accelerating from zero to 60km/h in under 10 seconds. The Indica EV may be launched in India by 2010-11, and Tata Motors is also said to be working on an electric variant of the Nano, which could also be launched by 2011.