Under the MCA, one of the joint venture would be to manufacture LCVs, in which Ashok Leyland would have an equity stake of 51 per cent and the Nissan 49 per cent, Gopichand P Hinduja, President of the Hinduja Group and Carlos Ghosn, President, Nissan, said in a press conference here.

The location of the factory was yet to be decided but sites in Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Andhra Pradesh had been identified .

Another Joint Venture to manufacture engines for the LCVs would be set up with Nissan contributing 51 per cent of the equity and the rest by Ashok Leyland, they said. The third JV, in which both would have equal equity stake, for developing LCV products and related goods, would be set up at Chennai and the products developed at the company would be sold under Ashok Leyland and Nissan brand names.

 The light commercial vehicle factory, with an installed capacity to produce one lakh units annually, would commence production by 2010, 20 per cent of which would be exported, Ghosn said. Nissan has already signed an agreement with Mahindra & Mahindra for manufacturing passenger cars in Chennai.

 Ashok Leyland Managing Director R Seshasayee  pointed out that Leyland factories in India would be expanded to produce 1.8 million vehicles and had set a target to achieve the sales of Rs 30,000 cr by 2011-12.