Mumbai: Piaggio Vehicles Pvt Ltd (PVPL), the Indian arm of Italian scooter maker Piaggio, will be introducing two new mini trucks in India by 2010. PVPL will begin production at a diesel engine plant being built in Maharashtra by the end of 2009, Ravi Chopra, managing director of the company, said.

The move is a part of Piaggio''s efforts to emerge as a full range four-wheeler light commercial vehicle maker in a market dominated by local players like Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra.

"We are creating the facility with a capacity of 200,000 engines. The progress is on schedule. The investment envisaged is in the region of 60 million euros," Chopra said, at news conference to launch Piaggio''s new line of ''Ape'' passenger and cargo three-wheelers that run on compressed natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas.

"One has to grow the platform of four-wheelers. In the next two years we should be able to introduce variants of a sub-one tonne truck. The vision is to create another platform beyond the sub-one tonne but less than two tonnes by 2010," Chopra added.

The company, which marked its foray into the small truck market in May, said it plans to introduce another model by 2010 as better fuel efficiency over three-wheeler alternatives fuelled growth.

Piaggio has already introduced its sub-one tonne truck ''Ape Truck'' in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and expects to complete its pan-India roll-out by March 2008. "Next year we should be able to introduce ''Ape Truk Plus'' which will cater to the upper end of the sub-one tonne segment," Chopra said.

The company is investing 60 million euros at its Baramati facility for a three-wheeler diesel engine facility, which will have a capacity of about 2 lakh units a year. The plant is expected to be operational by 2009.

The new plant will make engines for three-wheelers and four-wheelers. Capacity would be expanded once demand goes up, he said.

The plant would meet domestic demand and also supply engines to the firm''s Italian parent.

Piaggio currently gets its three-wheeler engines from Greaves Cotton Ltd and Lombardini.

With sales of 62,725 units in April-August, Piaggio commanded a 30 per cent share of the country''s three-wheeler market, industry data showed.

Piaggio said it expected its three-wheelers sales in India to touch 160,000 units in 2007, growth of about 15 per cent year on year, but lower than last year''s 39 per cent expansion.