New platform being developed for four-wheeler segment
An exclusive feature from MOTORINDIA
Piaggio Vehicles Private Ltd. (PVPL), a pioneer of three-wheeler goods transportation in India, is vigorously working on developing new product platforms to continue its strong presence in the increasingly competitive market. The company is known for consistent performance of its products and efficient customer service.
Today the company offers a range of passenger and cargo vehicles for many customized applications and will be rolling out new models in the coming months to beat competition.
Mr. Ravi Chopra, Chairman and Managing Director, PVPL, talks about the company’s strategy to surge ahead of competition in the three-wheeler and four-wheeler segments.
The automotive industry witnessed slowdown in the first half of 2012 which has forced both the established players and the new entrants to rework their strategy. However, Mr. Chopra is confident that the industry will be quick to bounce back. “I see the slowdown as a temporary phase. Though the first half of 2012 has been challenging, the next two months, being a pre-festival period, the market will revive and volumes will gain growth momentum”.
Piaggio has been a dominant force in the three-wheeler cargo segment. While the pace of growth is slower than in the previous years, the segment is likely to push ahead. In the three-wheeler passenger transport, Piaggio is a leading player in the feeder-line segment and has also grown strongly in rural markets. The company is also strong when it comes to diesel vehicles and is working on the obvious next step of bringing out petrol, LPG and CNG variants.
Says Mr. Chopra: “We have initiated development of a new product with 200cc engine. Next month the engine will be available and we will start our trials soon. Subsequently, the alternate fuel vehicles will also be available.”
The addition of alternate vehicle variants will be a big boost for the company and would give it a share of the highly potential market for petrol, LPG and CNG variants of passenger vehicles currently estimated at 150,000 units per annum.
The new vehicle will be compact, fuel-efficient and cost effective, and will be an ideal choice for operation within cities. Apart from catering to the requirements of the domestic market, the new vehicle will also be offered in overseas markets like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Egypt. One key factor behind the success of the new product is the fact that in many countries there is little difference between diesel and petrol price, whereas in India a diesel vehicle is more expensive than a petrol vehicle. Keeping this in mind, the future of Piaggio could very well be in the petrol, LPG and CNG variants.
In the four-wheeler segment too, the company is working on a new product platform to take advantage of the rapid growth in the SCV segment in the country. “We realise that the future of commercial vehicles is in the small commercial vehicle segment (one tonne and below) with the market growing at close to 15 per cent per annum. In the next one-and-a-half to two years, we will have a new platform through which we will be able to strongly position ourselves in the four-wheeler market”, adds Mr. Chopra.
Piaggio is currently capable of manufacturing 300,000 three-wheelers and 80,000 four-wheelers per annum at its Baramati plant. The new engine plant which was recently opened is a state-of-the-art facility with a capacity to manufacture 50,000 diesel engines annually. The facility is also configured to make 50,000 petrol engines.
At present, Piaggio has pan-India presence with its 275 dealers and over 450 service outlets. A region-wise market report shows that the acceptance of Piaggio vehicles is very high in south India, with almost 40 per cent of the company’s sales in terms of volume accounted for by Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. The company is now keen to increase its market share in other regions too.
With the expected introduction of new variants in the three-wheeler passenger segment and a completely new platform under development in the four-wheeler segment, Piaggio is gearing up to take on competition. Considering the success of the company’s products, especially three-wheelers, it will be very interesting to see how the new products perform in the highly competitive and rapidly growing three- and four-wheeler markets.