Swaraj Baggonkar Moneycontrol News
Mahindra & Mahindra Tuesday unveiled a new range of intermediate commercial vehicles (ICV) under the brand Furio, which will see 21 launches over the next 1-2 years.
Using a new platform, the Mumbai-based company spent Rs 600 crore for developing the new vehicle architecture that will help plug the product gap in its existing range.
The new products will address the segment of 6-16 tonne and buyers who cater to vegetable transport, e-commerce deliveries, auto parts shipments, and such other businesses.
This is the first major launch of a range of trucks by the company since introducing the heavy commercial vehicle range in 2011. It spent four years developing the model using 500 employees and 180 vendors. Around 500 transporters were also part of the development process.
The ICV segment generates volumes of 150,000 units a year. Tata Motors and Eicher Motors are the segment leaders with around 37 percent share each followed by Ashok Leyland and Daimler India Commercial Vehicles.
The segment has grown at a compounded annual rate of 15 percent and is projected to continue the same pace of growth in the coming years given the broader uptick in demand for commercial vehicles.
Vinod Sahay, CEO, Mahindra Truck and Bus Division said, “With the progressive launch of the ICV range we will have products from 0.5 tonne to 49 tonne. This will make us a significant player in the commercial vehicle industry."
Mahindra will kick off the commercial launch of these trucks from the December quarter and intends to put out at least six models before the end of the year. At least seven models will meet Bharat Stage (BS) IV emission norms while the rest will meet BS VI. The BS IV range will be upgraded to BS VI.
The Furio was entirely designed by Mahindra-owned Italian design company Pininfarina which also happens to be the first fully designed product by them for M&M. The Furio will have a choice of five engines (four diesel and one CNG).
“The percentage of owned driver in this category of CVs is around 22 percent where the driver of the vehicle is the owner of the vehicle itself. This percentage is just 2 in the case of a heavy commercial vehicle,” said Sahay
This is the reason why the company has added a lot of driver comfort features such as air conditioning, music system, car-like cabin features to name a few.
Managing Director Pawan Goenka said the truck and bus division made its maiden profit at the operating level in the last quarter of last year. He said the segment is on track to stay in the black this financial year.
Earlier known as Mahindra Trucks and Bus Limited (MTBL), the company was merged into M&M a few years ago after recurring loses. It was decided to continue with the business given the Indian CV market is controlled by just two players – Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland.
Overtime M&M built its CV portfolio with the launch of a range of products in the heavy category under the brand Blazo and in the LCV category under the brand Maxximo. The passenger carrying segment (buses) are still a segment that is under-tapped by the company and the focus for the next few years will be to plug that gap, said a senior company official.
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