VECV, the solid partnership between the Volvo Group and Eicher Motors, remains one of the few players in the Indian commercial vehicle space to register good sales growth. Despite the slowdown which has plagued the segment for over 2½ years, VECV has managed to stay reasonably strong in terms of market volume and share and, equally importantly, profitability during the period, while it has also focused purposefully on unleashing its all-new Pro series range of trucks and buses across the country.
The Pro series was unveiled at a grand event in Pithampur in December 2013, and ever since VECV has been aggressively marketing the completely revamped product range which boasts of best-in-class features in terms of performance, fuel efficiency, safety and comfort, a result of the strategic blend of Volvo’s global strengths and Eicher’s frugal engineering capabilities and brand value in the Indian market.
VECV’s Pro 1000 and 3000 series light and medium duty (LMD) trucks in the 5-14 ton GVW segment are already operating throughout the country, having received excellent response from customers. The Pro 6000 range, which includes trucks in the 16-40 ton GVW range, was first made available in markets like Ahmedabad and Faridabad, and along with the Pro 8000 range of premium trucks, tippers and tractors in the 25-49 ton GVW range, will continue to be launched in other regions. The Pro series bus range has also been launched in markets such as Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai, among others, with a view to capturing a major share of the growing bus market in the country.
Bucking the trend
In terms of performance during 2014, while the commercial vehicle industry showed signs of recovery after nearly a 36-month slump, VECV was able to see some green shoots in its business. After a steady first half of the year, the company once again outpaced the industry in both LMD trucks and buses during the third quarter (July-Sept). In the 5-14 tonne segment, it had expanded its quarterly market share to 33.6 per cent in Q3 2014 from 29.1 per cent in the same period the previous year. Its market share in buses rose to 14.4 per cent from 12.3 per cent in Q3 2013, while it also registered an export growth of 5.6 per cent with sales of 1,237 units in Q3 2014.
VECV sold 3,052 trucks and buses (2,494 units in the domestic market and 558 units in overseas) in October 2014 as compared to 3,001 units in October 2013, an overall growth of 1.7 per cent, including a whopping 53.3 per cent rise in exports. In November 2014, the OEM’s sales totalled 2,778 units (2,233 vehicles in the domestic market and 545 vehicles in the export sector), as compared to 2,244 units for the month in 2013, a growth of 23.8 per cent. The month was another successful one on the export front, with the company clocking a staggering 72.5 per cent growth over the previous year. VECV closed 2014 with sales of 3,387 units in December, which was a 20.7 per cent growth as compared to the 2,807 units it sold in December 2013.
With 2015 expected to be a much better year as far as commercial vehicle sales turnover is concerned and also the first full year of the Pro series range in the market, it would be very interesting to watch how the new platform performs and what it can do to VECV’s position among the rivals in the field. Going by the initial market feedback and VECV’s aggressive approach, it won’t be wrong to presume that the Pro wave would continue sweeping the country.