THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even As Chinese autorickshaws are set to enter Kerala roads providing stiff competition to the indigenous brands, Kerala autos will take on the Chinese in far-away Senegal.It would be the first encounter for Senegal, situated on the Atlantic coast, with Indian-made autorickshaws. Its capital Dakar is more familiar with the ‘Made-in-China’ version of the common man’s limo on three wheels.State PSU Kerala Automobiles Ltd (KAL) has cornered a deal for exporting 1,000 autorickshaws to the West African nation.Discussions were held with Senegalese Government officials in New Delhi. The first consignment of three autos will be shipped in a week. They will be followed by 1,000 more,’’ KAL managing director E Abdul Latheef said. Although KAL had export deals with various African countries before, this is the first one with Senegal. Fully-built autorickshaws are to be exported to Senegal and the consignment will consist of both front and rear engine three-wheelers, the KAL MD said. It is also a come-back of sorts for KAL which had a bitter experience with an export to Egypt some years back, after the consignment reached them in a poor state owing to sloppy packing.Founded in 1978 at Aralumoodu in Neyyattinkara taluk, KAL’s African connection started some years ago. It has exported autorickshaws to countries such as Sudan, South Africa, Nigeria and Botswana on the African continent, and even as far as Guatemala in Central America.Since Senegal is quite far away, Kerala Automobiles Ltd will train Senegalese mechanics to handle the maintenance of its three-wheelers, Abdul Latheef said. KAL also has plans to export autorickshaws to neighbours Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the near future, he said.
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