DaimlerChrysler to build $67 million plant in India

DaimlerChrysler AG, the world's second-largest luxury carmaker, will invest $67 million to build a factory in India, where an expanding economy and rising disposable incomes have spawned a set of high-spending customers, Bloomberg News reported today.

The factory, to be located at Chakan in the western state of Maharashtra, will employ 350 people initially, Joachim Schmidt, chairman of DaimlerChrysler India Pvt., told reporters in the industrial city of Pune. It would have a capacity to produce 5,000 vehicles a year, he said.

"There is a lot of potential because India is improving dramatically in all aspects," Schmidt said. "That's why we see double-digit growth from the luxury car market in India."

DaimlerChrysler currently assembles the E-Class, C-Class and S-Class models at a factory in Pune in Maharashtra, Bloomberg reported. The land for the existing factory is owned by Tata Motors Ltd., India's biggest truck and bus maker.