About
The company was founded in 1958 by N.K.Firodia. Bajaj Auto bought a controlling stake in the company, renaming it "Bajaj Tempo". Germany's Daimler-Benz, a long-time collaborator with Firodia because of their ownership of the original Tempo works in Germany, owned 16% of Bajaj Tempo. They sold their stake back to the Firodia group in 2001, meaning they once again held a controlling interest. It was agreed that the company would gradually phase out the use of the "Tempo" brand name, as it still belonged to Mercedes-Benz.[3] The name of the company was changed to Force Motors in May 2005, over the objections of Bajaj Auto with whom the company shares a long history as well as a compound wall.[4]Force Motors started production of the Hanseat three-wheeler in collaboration with German Vidal & Sohn Tempo Werke and went on to establish a presence in the light commercial vehicles field with the Matador, the proverbial LCV (light commercial vehicle) in India. Bajaj Tempo was associated with Mercedes-Benz since 1976 and in 1982 they began building the Mercedes-Benz OM616 diesel engine. Through the 1980s and 1990s, and especially in the last five years with a major product development effort, Force Motors has introduced new light commercial vehicles, a facelifted series of Tempo Trax utility vehicles, new tractors, and a new range of three-wheelers. The Matador, which defined the light commercial segment in India, saw sales collapsing in the late 1990s and Bajaj Tempo began a substantial program of developing modern vehicles to replace it.[5]Bajaj Tempo also built the diesel engines used in the Mercedes-Benz W124, and later W210, as manufactured in India. This was a small-scale endeavour, but while it did not net BT much profit they benefitted from the connection, both in terms of reputation and technology.[5]The company which mainly operates in commercial vehicle segment, entered into the "personal vehicle" segment in August 2011 with the launch of its first SUV, named Force-One.[6]The company manufactures trucks at Pithampur, the industrial hub of Madhya Pradesh in Indore in a joint venture, Man Force Trucks Pvt. Ltd, with MAN AG of Germany.[7] MAN Force trucks are exported overseas to countries such as Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and certain African nations. markets where a low selling price is essential. The JV was dissolved as on March 2012 with Force Motors having sold and transferred remaining 50% of Man Force shares to MAN AG for Rs 10 per share.[8]Tractors are built under the Balwan and Ox (formerly Tempo Ox) brands.[9] The tractor field was entered by (then) Bajaj Tempo in 1996-1997, and were developed indigenously, rather than depending on imported technology.
