Speaking at a press conference Daewoo Motors India managing director SG Awasthi said the company was targeting a 15 per cent market share within one year. The country's total market is 4,000 mid-size buses per annum. The company plans to enter the entire range of commercial vehicles within a year. It is also working on three to four products including goods transport vehicles and light commercial vehicles.

Both the buses are equipped with turbo charged engines and have an indigenisation level of 92 per cent, he said. While the deluxe version of the bus comes with a seating capacity of 19, the standard model has the capacity to seat 30 people.

On the small car, Awasthi said Matiz was on schedule and the pilot production will begin soon. The recession that has gripped the automobile industry, particularly the commercial vehicle segment, will be over soon and the public transport system will grow at the rate of 8 per cent to 10 per cent annually, he said.

"The recession is only a temporary phase. We will further broaden our commercial vehicle stable with the launch of two more such vehicles by 1999," he said. The company's manufacturing facility has a separate plant for the commercial vehicles, Awasthi said. The plant will reach its optimum capacity of 15,000 vehicles by the year 1999, he added.

Daewoo Motors India proposes to export the buses to neighbouring countries as well as to Africa and has already bagged an export order of 30 buses from Tanzania and Kenya, he said. The company has appointed 14 exclusive dealers for commercial vehicles spread across the country.