SML Isuzu Limited (SMLI) is a commercial vehicle manufacturer established in 1983. SMLI produces and sells

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

es, ambulances and customized vehicles.

Sumitomo Corporation is one of the largest worldwide '' sōgō shōsha'' general trading companies, and is a diversified corporation. The company was incorporated in 1919 and is a member company of the Sumitomo Group. It is listed on three Japanese stock exchange ...

and

Isuzu , commonly known as Isuzu (, ), is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. Its principal activity is the production, marketing and sale of Isuzu commercial vehicles and diesel engines ...

hold a 44% and 15% stake of the company respectively. The company manufactures light commercial vehicles like trucks, buses,

school bus A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to Student transport, transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter ...

es,

ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...

s, police personnel carriers, water tankers and special vehicles. It exports its products to countries like

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

. On April 26, 2025,

Mahindra & Mahindra Mahindra & Mahindra is an Indian automobile manufacturing company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was established in 1945 as Mahindra & Mohammed and later renamed Mahindra & Mahindra. Part of the Mahindra Group, M&M is one of the lar ...

announced plans to acquire a 59% stake in SML Isuzu, acquiring the stakes held by

and

for Rs 555 crore.

History

The company was incorporated in July 1983 with the name of Swaraj Vehicles Limited. Swaraj Mazda Limited, at

Chandigarh Chandigarh is a city and union territory in northern India, serving as the shared capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana. Situated near the foothills of the Shivalik range of Himalayas, it borders Haryana to the east and Punjab in the ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

based automobile company, was owned by the

of Japan and Punjab Tractors Limited of India, with a technical collaboration with

and

Mazda is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima (town), Fuchū, Hiroshima Prefecture, Hiroshima, Japan. The company was founded on January 30, 1920, as Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd. ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

1984

Joint venture and technical assistance agreement concluded between Punjab Tractor Ltd.,

Mazda Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. The company was founded on January 30, 1920, as Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., a cork-making factory, by Jujiro Matsuda. The company then acquired Ab ...

and

. SVL renamed Swaraj Mazda Ltd.

1985

Project set up with a capacity of 5000

light commercial vehicles A light commercial vehicle (LCV) in the European Union, Australia and New Zealand is a commercial carrier vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of no more than 3.5 Tonne, metric tons (tonnes). The LCV designation is also occasionally used in both ...

(LCVs) at capital outlay of Rs. 200 million. Equity of Rs. 105 million was subscribed by: Trial production and test marketing of Swaraj Mazda truck WT-48, WT-49, WT-50 LCV commence. The development of the vendor base undertaken as per approved by the government of

1986

After some trial production in 1985, series production began in 1986.

1987

Introduction of indigenously developed bus.

1989

In-house tooling for local production of chassis long member.

1990

In-house developed Second Truck Model (Swaraj Mazda Super) launched.

1991

Transmission components indigenized.

1992

Commencement of Truck supplies to MOD. 500 vehicles supplied to Defense.

1993

Third Truck Model (Swaraj Mazda Premium) launched.

1994

Declared a Sick Company under SICA (due to

Rupee Rupee (, ) is the common name for the currency, currencies of Indian rupee, India, Mauritian rupee, Mauritius, Nepalese rupee, Nepal, Pakistani rupee, Pakistan, Seychellois rupee, Seychelles, and Sri Lankan rupee, Sri Lanka, and of former cu ...

devaluation of 1991–93).

1995

BIFR approves Rehabilitation Scheme.

1996

4-Wheel Drive Truck developed.

1997

Company ceases to be a Sick Industrial Company on the basis of positive net worth 4 years ahead of BIFR Scheme projections. The company's annual turnover for the year 1997 - 1998 exceeded Rs. 151

crores Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the Indian ...

. It has a dealer network of about 128 dealers spread throughout

. Swaraj Engines and Punjab Scooters are its associate companies.

1998

Completely wiped off of accumulated losses.

1999

Bharat Stage-I Emission Norms complied.

2000

Maiden Dividend declared at 10%. Technical Assistance Agreement with Mazda extended up to October 2004.

2001

Cumulative sales crossed 50,000 vehicles. 4 Wheel Drive Ambulance launched in March. Economy Truck 'SARTAJ' launched in August. CNG Bus for NCR Delhi launched in October. Bharat Stage-II Emission Norms complied.

2002

Profit Before Tax for FY 2002 crosses Rs. 100 million mark. Dividend raised to 25%.

2003

Profit Before Tax for FY-2003 grows 115% to Rs. 225 million. Dividend enhanced to 45%.

2004

Profit Before Tax for FY-2004 grows 44% to Rs. 324 million. Dividend enhanced to 70%.

2005

Cumulative sales crossed 86,000 vehicles. Bharat Stage-III emission norms complied (both diesel & CNG). Dividend enhanced to 75%. Punjab Tractors offloads 15% of equity stake in favor of Sumitomo Corporation, Japan in June. Mazda Motor Corporation offloads 15% of equity holding in favor of Sumitomo Corporation, Japan in August.

2006

Permission from Government for new manufacturing facilities at existing site obtained in January. Dividend rate lowered to 55% due profit and declined the Technical Assistance Agreement with Isuzu Motors signed in June. Aggregate vehicles sale crosses in August. Construction of Buildings for vehicle expansion and new Bus Body Plant taken up in August. In June 2006, Swaraj Mazda entered a new technical agreement with Isuzu Motors, Japan.

2007

Dividend rate maintained at 55%. Trial Production of Isuzu Bus LT134 taken up in July.

2008

Dividend rate maintained at 55%. Highest-ever profit in the history of the company. Launch of Ultra Luxury Buses in July.

2009

Sumitomo upped its stake in the company in 2009 by purchasing all of Punjab Tractors' remaining shares, raising their stake to 53.5% In 2009, Swaraj Mazda started to roll out Luxury buses and medium-duty trucks powered by Isuzu Engines from a new plant in Punjab. Plans are to build multi-axle trucks, tractor units and refrigerated trucks within the next three years. For an interim period, these vehicles were marketed under the Swaraj Mazda Isuzu brand. In addition, Swaraj Mazda is moving to offer the

Isuzu D-Max The Isuzu D-Max is a pickup truck manufactured since 2002 by Isuzu. A successor of the Isuzu Faster/KB, the first and second-generation model shares its platform with the Chevrolet Colorado. The third-generation model shares its platform wi ...

pickup. Former associate company Punjab Tractors manufactured agricultural tractors and combine harvesters under the Swaraj brand name before selling 64.6% to

Mahindra Tractors Mahindra Tractors is an Indian agricultural machinery manufacturer. It is part of the Mahindra & Mahindra corporation. In 2010, Mahindra became the world's highest-selling tractor brand by volume. Mahindra's largest consumer base is in India. I ...

. In 2009, Mahindra and Swaraj Mazda settled a dispute over the use of the ''Swaraj'' name, allowing Swaraj Mazda to continue using the name for only two more years.

2010

During the financial year 2009–10 the company had issued 3,984,946 equity share of Rs. 10 each at a premium of Rs. 190 per share on rights basis to the Equity shareholders of the company in the ratio of 11 equity shares for every 50 Equity shares held on the record date and raised Rs. 796989,000 for financing of Expansion project, repayment of loan taken from Allahabad Bank (for Expansion Project) and for general corporate purposes. Swaraj Mazda Limited has informed the Exchange that at the Board Meeting of the Company held on 1 October 2010, the Board of Directors have decided to change the name of the company from Swaraj Mazda Limited to SML Isuzu Limited. As of 2011 they no longer use the "Swaraj" brand name.

2011

Swaraj Mazda renamed as SML ISUZU LIMITED.

2012

SML S7 Bus, Wheelbase −5100 mm, 50+1 Seater Launched. BS-IV Compliant Engine Successfully Tested. (But Buses is not success) ISUZU FR1318 Luxury Bus, Wheelbase – 5400 mm Launched. SML HG72 Truck GVW 7200 kg Truck Launched. SML HD19 Truck GVW 10250 kg Truck Launched.

Vehicles

Trucks

SML

# 5252 XM # Sartaj 59 XM #Sartaj HG72 #Prestige #Supreme #Super #Samrat #Samrat HD19 #Samrat 1312

Buses

SML #Eco max AC Cab #Executive LX Bus #Executive Bus #Standard School Bus #S7 School Bus #Semi low Floor Bus #Standard Staff Bus #S7 Staff Bus #Bus Chassis

#NQR #FR1318 #LT134 #IS12TE Chassis #NQR Bus Chassis #LT134 Bus Chassis

References

External links

SML Isuzu website

SML Isuzu Trucks
{{Automotive industry in India Truck manufacturers of India Ambulances Bus manufacturers of India Indian companies established in 2011 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 2011 Multinational joint-venture companies Isuzu Mazda 1983 establishments in Chandigarh Companies based in Chandigarh Indian companies established in 1983 Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange