Spanish firm Hidral Gobel was among the global product experts which exhibited for the first time at the Indian edition of Busworld. The Madrid-based company manufactures lifts, ramps and security systems to facilitate access for disabled people to all types of passenger transport vehicles.
It has strong presence in the European market as a supplier to Mercedes, Volvo, Scania, MAN and other major OEMs in the region and is executing a strategy to expand into other global markets.
Says Mr. Alvaro Cabeza de Vaca, Country Manager, Hidral Gobel: “We are quite well-known in Europe and want to get ourselves known outside of Europe. We believe India is missing something in accessibility not only for disabled people but also for regular passengers who have difficulties to board buses & coaches and to move from one place to another.”
“Over the next five to 10 years, India is going to transform itself and people are going to start asking for such solutions. Otherwise, a third or fourth of the Indian population would not be able to move from one place to another just because they are unable to get on to a bus. Solutions like ours make it very easy for them to access vehicles and move around.” he added.
The company evoked very good feedback for its products at the exhibition and had encouraging discussions with some of the bus manufacturers in India.
Talking about the company’s Indian market roadmap, Mr. Cabeza de Vaca shares: “We would ideally like to first identify a local distributor who could help us understand the market, help us interact with customers and provide quick response to market enquiries. In future, we would look at opening a factory in India because given the size of the market, it makes sense to manufacture products locally to be cost-competitive.”
Hidral Gobel long-lasting products come with the assurance of the best lifecycle cost thereby proving to be a benefit for customers. To improve the ease of maintenance, the company has developed an interface that helps diagnose problems, if any, in the product.
The interface has been designed in such a way that even someone with very little understanding would be able to diagnose and rectify issues in the product.