JCB India, the country's largest construction equipment company, Thursday announced Formula 1 driver Narain Karthikeyan as its brand ambassador.

The company also launched its new range of apparel with Karthikeyan's signature.

"The apparel range bearing the Narain Karthikeyan signature on it will become available across 400 outlets in 80 different cities in the next month," JCB India's managing director Onkar Singh Sunar said at a press conference here.

"This move is to complement the main product range which is earthmoving equipment and enhance the brand by creating awareness," he added.

Karthikeyan is scheduled to visit JCB India's factories having already visited the JCB world headquarters in Staffordshire, England, where he also got behind the wheel of an earthmoving truck.

"It was fun to drive these machines, it's a completely different challenge from driving a Formula 1 car, but I'm really looking forward to driving one of these machines in actual conditions," Karthikeyan said in a lighter vein.

JCB India Limited is a fully owned subsidiary of the Britain-based JCB Group - the world's largest privately owned construction equipment firm, with 14 factories on four continents including India.