@nick
Excellent pics and info.
Just a minor nitpick. AMW is actually backed by a giant business house called ESSAR who are a big player in Steel, Oils, Shipping, Telecom etc.
AMW has leveraged this advantage to the fullest. They get steel at a preferential rate from ESSAR. They built more than 2,000 truck prior to a soft commercial launch. These pre-launch trucks were used exclusively within ESSAR empire to transport steel, oil etc across India. For almost 2 years these truck provided valuable feedback for further refinement. Even now any transporter hoping to get contracts from ESSAR needs to deploy AMW trucks for the purpose.
AMW has followed a very smart strategy as they ramp up the volume. They started by importing the Cabin and Frame from FAW of China. And as you have mentioned they sourced other parts from Indian operations of world-class vendors. Now they have setup their own frame plant, wheel plant, and axles. They have hired people from Tata and Ashok Leyland so expertise is not an issue. In 2008 they hope to produce 20,000 trucks.
A company to watch out for.
