Navistar, an affiliate of Navistar International Corp., has signed a joint venture agreement with Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. of India to produce diesel engines for medium and heavy commercial trucks and buses in India.

The joint venture, to be named Mahindra International Engines Ltd. (MIEL), will be 51 percent owned by Mahindra & Mahindra and 49 percent owned by Warrenville, Ill.-based Navistar, among North America's largest combined commercial truck, school bus and mid-range diesel engine producers. The combined investment of the two companies will be $90 million over the next five years.
This marks the second such joint venture with M&M, India, a leading automotive manufacturer, that makes light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles for India and export markets.
The new company's advanced diesel engines will power the full line of trucks and buses produced by the preceding joint venture, beginning in 2009. Engine components will be sourced locally, going up to 85 percent within two years, due to the strong availability of quality parts and materials from Indian suppliers.
"This is another step in our global growth strategy to leverage our technologies, great products and manufacturing expertise worldwide to create scale and achieve a competitive cost structure," said Daniel C. Ustian, Navistar chairman, president and chief executive officer. "With an experienced partner like Mahindra and Mahindra, this represents an opportunity to enter India and a regional export market with trucks and engines as this region has tremendous growth potential for commercial vehicles and diesel power."
Mahindra International Engines Ltd. will build a new plant in India, with production start-up targeted for April 2009. "The first production engine will be a 7.2-liter, in-line design that has been very successful in commercial truck and bus applications in South America, and Mexico," said Waldey Sanchez, president and chief executive officer, MWM-International, a wholly owned subsidiary of International Truck and Engine Corp., another Navistar affiliate.
"The technology and engineering behind this line of products marketed under the Acteon brand in South America and the MaxxForce brand in Mexico has assured success of the products in those regions," Sanchez said. Engine models, certified to Euro III and Euro IV emissions standards, will be optimized for the Indian markets and for export to other global markets under this joint venture.
The joint venture company will also provide sourcing services and engineering services to another Navistar affiliate, International Truck and Engine Corp., which has operations in North and South America.