Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, a subsidiary of Tata Motors, has started production of passenger vehicles at its recently acquired factory in Sanand, Gujarat.

Shailesh Chandra, managing director, said: “We have successfully retooled the factory in the shortest span of 12 months, taking it to new level to accommodate a wide range of existing products and future new models.

"With existing capacities near saturation, this new facility will unlock an additional capacity of 300,000 units per annum which [can be expanded] to 420,000.”

The plant in the industrial hub GIDC Sanand was acquired from Ford India on 10 January, 2023. On 460 acres it will be Tata Motors’ second Gujarat plant to manufacture ICE and EV models. The plant has four main shops – stamping, body construction, paint and final assembly with high levels of automation and the latest technology.

Major retooling and tech upgrades included new dies for stamping critical skin panels, modification of welding lines with additional robots, new grippers and fixtures, modified paint handling systems, external robot programming, internal robotic painting and waxing plus modification of assembly handling and end of line systems.

The plant has 1,000 employees and will create 1,000 additional jobs in coming months as production ramps up.

A 50 KW solar rooftop is installed and the water neutral plant and is expected to be water positive by December 2024.