The JBM Group, known for its auto component manufacturing technology for decades, is all set to roll out its first city bus from the Kosi plant this month. The company, under its bus division JBM Motors Ltd., had showcased its CITYLIFE city bus a year ago at Auto Expo in New Delhi, receiving very good initial response from the industry and potential customers. The bus project, set up at an investment of Rs. 500 crores, is highly venturesome considering the fiercely competitive nature of the market currently served by a handful of players.
In an exclusive interview to MOTORINDIA, Mr. Nishant Arya, Executive Director, JBM Group, said: “We have had very good response to our city bus and will be rolling the first set of buses in March. We are targeting three groups of customers – STUs, airlines (tarmac application) and schools – and will primarily cater to the customers in the North, West and some in South. We participated in few tenders under the second round of JnNurm and have won some orders as well. We will be sharing our plan for the upcoming financial year towards the end of March.”
The bus project was started in partnership with European bus-maker BredaMenarinibus which brings in strong domain expertise, though the engineering and design of the buses have been completely done by JBM. “We have tied up with a 90-year-old company BredaMenarinibus to get domain experience but the complete product engineering and design has been done by our R&D centres which have 50 years of experience in the CV segment”, added Mr. Arya.
Optimized product
JBM’s confidence of a successful run in the Indian bus market comes from the fact that it has put in plenty of effort in shaping up the product, backed by its understanding of local conditions better when compared to its multinational competitors in the luxury city bus space. While the monocoque construction is likely to provide an advantage over the more common chassis-type configuration, the 12 m CITYLIFE bus comes with value-enhancing features such as disc brakes, resin roof, automatic transmission and safety systems like EBS, etc.
Being a fully-flat true low floor bus with floor height 340 mm, the vehicle is designed to offer maximum comfort to passengers by making way for easier ingress and egress. Care has been taken to keep the window panes large and clear so that there is complete visibility from outside which ensures safety of passengers within.
He further observed: “Our idea was not to compete with mass market players. We will be a premium player but with a product which is optimized for the Indian market. We wanted to create a high-end product for a niche segment which offers the best comfort and safety for passengers and at the same time, lowers the total cost of ownership for our customers. Our product will be almost 10 per cent less expensive compared to current players in the premium segment. We have been able to bring down the cost because more than 85 per cent of our bus has been localized. And, while the normal life of a bus is around 8 to 10 years, ours will run up to 12 years or more which results in increased profit for customers.”
JBM has a capacity to roll out 2,000 buses per annum, translating into revenue of Rs. 1,800-2,000 crores. The bus bodies are built in its unit at Faridabad with the assembly and final roll-out happening at its Kosi plant. The company aims to reach full capacity in three years’ time and is planning to put out a complete line up of buses in the next five to six years. JBM currently offers six variants of the CITYLIFE which includes diesel and CNG fuel variants for city bus, airport tarmac coach and school bus applications.
The JBM Group has also been consistently investing in its components business to cater to the growing needs of its customers by expanding capacities at different locations. JBM Auto Systems, a subsidiary of JBM Auto, has invested Rs. 100 crores in its two Chennai facilities – one at Maramalai Nagar and the other at Oragadam. Another Rs. 100-crore investment has been pumped in for capacity expansion at one of JBM Auto’s facilities in the North.