Full-range product offering, holistic market approach put company on exciting growth path
Entering the Indian commercial vehicle market at a time when it was dominated by two home-grown brands and a host of global heavyweights waiting in the wings, Mahindra had to do something different to carve a niche for itself in the highly competitive space.
True to its globally acclaimed brand strength, it did just that by coming up with impressive products crafted to meet market requirements, winning the confidence of fleets with a holistic approach that one would expect from the brand given its dominance in segments like the utility vehicle space. The institution of the Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards in 2011 was a masterstroke and has put Mahindra Truck & Bus as a frontrunner when it comes to working towards upgrading the overall status of the transport ecosystem.
In this exclusive interview with Mr. Vinod Sahay, CEO, Mahindra Truck and Bus and Construction Equipment Divisions, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., we find out about the Awards’ growth journey, how Mahindra Truck & Bus fared in FY19 and the holistic approach that is driving the brand forward.
Excerpts:
Congrats on yet another successful edition of the Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards (MTEA). As discussed during our conversation at the event, it is truly commendable for a challenger brand to be taking such an initiative. What do you think Mahindra has achieved over the last eight years with MTEA? What value does it add to the transport ecosystem and, in particular, to the transporters?
We have envisaged the initiative 8 years back in sync with our Group philosophy “RISE”, which is solely aimed at transforming the lives of CV transport ecosystem stakeholders. Mahindra has acquired thought leadership in the CV segment and helped communities to build a “RISE FOR GOOD” culture, under the aegis of MoRTH, Government of India.
We recognize and reward Outperformance, Excellence, Innovation and Change Leadership. The awards are a forum to showcase excellence and outperformance, highlight heroes who are setting new standards that will drive the entire industry. We intend to salute and honour those individuals who go against the tide and traverse the path lesser taken, as it truly embodies the Mahindra Rise philosophy of Accepting No Limits, Alternative Thinking and Driving Positive Change. Glad to mention that Transport Ecosystem stakeholders have acknowledged the initiative as the industry’s first ever and only prestigious forum. It motivates them to adopt new practices & technologies, and encourages productivity improvement keeping safety at the helm of everything. We are also proud that the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has been supporting the Transport Excellence Awards Initiative for last 6 years and have been part of the Jury as well.
There was a lot of discussion about road safety during the panel discussion. What role do you think CV OEMs, ministries and fleet operators have to play to ensure the highest levels of safety in our industry? How is Mahindra making a difference in this aspect?
We firmly believe that OEMs have both the opportunity and the responsibility to make a huge difference to Road Safety. At Mahindra, we have done extensive research, while designing BLAZO. We took another advance step when we were in the process of designing our new ICV, the FURIO range, on the aspects of driver comfort, operating on Indian roads, cabin and vehicle design and safety on the road.
There are 1,317 accidents on roads in India every day, leading to 413 fatalities. A significant contributor to accidents is a tired and overworked driver, operating in poor conditions, often driving all night. From the OEM perspective, better cabin comfort, cabin designed for better visibility and higher headroom, better ventilation, driver and co-driver sleeping facility, lower NVH – all these can significantly help reduce driver fatigue, keep him or her more alert, and reduce the risk of accidents. When it comes to vehicle design, we specifically have radial tyres, cabins designed for safety, headlamps that provide better visibility in fog and while cornering – all these are aspects we have considered in the FURIO range. We also encourage fleet owners to look at the savings in terms of the cost of accidents avoided when provided with fully-built vehicles or OEM cabins: damages to vehicle and cargo, human lives affected, time and cost of having vehicle off-road, customer satisfaction, and so on.
How has FY19 been for Mahindra Truck & Bus? Would this be your best-ever year in terms of sales? Please share your major highlights & achievements during the year.
F19 has been a truly rewarding year. MTB has achieved its highest ever sales of 19,000+ trucks and buses in the domestic market. The volume growth in HCV and LCV trucks has been consistently positive and in double digits. Along with the launch of our much-awaited FURIO series, we also extended our Best in Class Fluid Efficiency proposition to another industry benchmark with BLAZO-X. Indeed, only BLAZO can beat BLAZO in FE now. A year before, we added Guaranteed Reach as a customer promise with our unique offering of Mumbai-Delhi Service Corridor. In FY19 we have extended the same guarantee with the launch of Srinagar-Kanyakumari, and a promise to cater customers in 4 hrs.
As we enter the new financial year, we find the mass CV market to be a five-brand battle. What market share does Mahindra hold across the different CV segments at present and what are your targets for FY19-20 given your new models such as the FURIO range and the BLAZO X will be available in the market?
Currently we hold 4-5% market share in HCV and ~9% LCV trucks. With BLAZO X, we expect our HCV share to increase substantially. We believe that we have the right products, focus on quality, new launches, fuller range, BS-VI readiness, growing spares and service network and a lot more! With FURIO, we are set to make a mark in the ICV segment and are looking at successfully establishing the range in the market.
BS-VI is just around a year away, set to come into force from April 2020. How prepared are you for the transition and what stage of development / testing are you currently in? How much of a challenge do you think it would be for the entire ecosystem (supply chain, the vehicle OEM, aftersales & services sector) to embrace the change?
We wouldn’t be able to share our milestones in the BS-VI journey as of now, but we are on time to meet the deadline of April 2020. The transition, like every other OEM, is going to be surely challenging, especially managing the change in parts, service and skills required for BS-VI vehicles.
If you have to pick out the three most important areas where Mahindra has done things to differentiate itself from competitors, what would they be? How have they been received by the industry and what dividends have they paid you?
The three most important areas where Mahindra Truck and Bus differentiated are as follows:
- Guaranteed Product, Service and Spare offerings with recourse in HCVs and LCVs popularly known as Mileage Guarantee, Service Guarantee and Spares Guarantee. Additionally we have grown the aftersales network through Service Corridors like Delhi-Mumbai and Kashmir-Kanyakumari.
- We have worked on enhancing the Mind Share amongst CV Transport Ecosystem through alternate brand building initiatives such as Transport Excellence Awards, MPOWER, Tour De Chakan and Mahindra Saarthi Abhiyaan.
- Customer Centricity and Focused Initiative on the Real Consumer of the Truck – Driver and driver training for all key customers has been instrumental to gain traction as a Challenger brand.
How the sales & service is reach of Mahindra Truck & Bus – how many dealer outlets and touch-points do you have at present and how are you ensuring your customers’ vehicles are serviced and put back on road in the quickest possible time?
Mahindra Truck and Bus has rapidly expanded its aftersales service and spares network which now includes over 100 3S dealerships, 184 authorized service centres, 37 M-Parts plazas and 2,900 roadside assistance points and spares network of more than 1,600 retail outlets to further improve the reach and support for customers on important trucking routes. We also boast having India’s first multi-lingual 24X7 helpline, NOW, which is manned by technical experts to provide instant support to customers and drivers. The NOW mobile service vans and mobile workshops further add to the reach and agility of the support network. We have improved upon aftersales support front through growing service network by means of ASCs, Parts Plazas, Service Corridors in the recent past. We currently have two service corridors between Delhi-Mumbai and Srinagar-Kanyakumari. Both corridors offer Guaranteed Reach to the customer in 2 hours and 4 hours respectively.
How is Mahindra faring on the export side – how many units have you exported during FY19? Are you exploring any new markets?
F19 saw a muted growth in exports of trucks, due to muted demand in the neighboring countries. At Mahindra we crossed 1600+ HCV and LCV trucks.