Fiat-Chrysler plans to expand its presence in India after years of under-performance.
In a presentation to local reporters in the commercial capital Mumbai, regional chief operating officer Mike Manley announced his company aims to increase annual sales to 130,000 units by 2018, from around 10,000 units in 2013.
The company plans to increase the capacity of its Ranjangaon joint venture plant with Tata Motors by 80% to 245,000 units by 2018 and to double the workforce there to 5,000 people.
Central to its strategy is to bring to market 12 new Fiat models, based on three platforms, by 2018.
The Chrysler Jeep brand is now expected to be launched in India by mid-2015.
A smaller, separate plant could be set up initially to assemble Cherokee kits, to be followed by production of smaller Jeep SUVs in 2016. The Chrysler vehicles will be sold by a dealer network separate to that of Fiat.

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