KARACHI, July 22: Continental Assemblers Private Limited (CAPL), in collaboration with a Korean company, will start assembly of 2,900cc jeep from next year.

In this regard, Ssangyong Motor Company of Korea had already signed a technical collaboration agreement (TCA) with the CAPL last year to roll out Musso Jeep 4x4.

A senior executive in Assemblers Private Limited told Dawn on Tuesday that three representatives of the Korean company were arriving on Thursday to expedite the local assembly project of the jeep.

The Korean team, he added, would also review vendor to vendor collaboration, time frame of production of jeep, production facility and also inspect the jigs and fixtures.

“We are hoping to start the production from early next year,” he said adding that an understanding has been reached with Ghandhara Nissan for the assembly at their plant.

He said the company intends to start production with 45

per cent local contents and the deletion programme had been tentatively approved by the Engineering Development Board (EDB).

The executive said the project investment ranges between Rs350-400 million and is jointly shared by Assemblers Private Limited and a Dubai-based party. As such, there is no investment made by Korean company since it has entered into a technical collaboration agreement with the local counterparts.

On company’s unit production per month, he said the actual number of units to be produced in the plant is yet to be decided as much depends on the market size.

However, the company is looking forward to production of 70-100 units a month.

If the assembly of jeep starts from next year, it would be the second entry from Korea in this segment.

In April-May 2002, Dewan Farooq Motors had launched the Kia 4WD Grand Sportage Jeep (2,000cc) at price of Rs1.549 million with an initial deletion of 37 per cent. In July-June 2002-2003, a total of 820 units were produced and sales stood at 814 units.