Company strengthening capabilities in various segments
By R. Natarajan, Managing Editor & Publisher
Wheels India, leading manufacturer of automotive and off-road steel wheels in India, has launched its exclusive aftermarket brand WILGO. Fittingly, the brand unveil comes in its fiftieth year of operations.
The company, established as part of the renowned TVS Group in 1962, is the market leader in wheels and has also established itself as a dominant player in the bus air suspension segment.
Being a preferred choice of leading OEMs in the country, the company is now looking to strengthen its offering in areas such as suspensions for LCVs, Vans, trucks and trailers. Mr. Srivats Ram, Managing Director, Wheels India Ltd., talks to Motorindia on the latest developments at the company.
WILGO will represent Wheels India’s aftermarket operations as the company looks to build a powerful brand in the replacement market of wheels, Says Mr. Srivats Ram: “We have invested and planned a lot in creating the WILGO brand and are proud of it.
Our focus will be on building on brand recall which is an important factor in the aftermarket. We are also looking at bringing in new products that suit specific end-application needs in the aftermarket.” The company has established warehouses at Chennai, Pune and Manesar with a fourth one proposed at Jamshedpur. The four centres will cater to the aftermarket requirements of segments including commercial vehicles, passenger cars, construction equipment and tractors. The company’s target is to develop the aftermarket business into a Rs. 100 crore one in the coming years.
In the wheels segment, the company has been a dominant player in the local market for long apart from being one of the largest manufacturers of wheels worldwide.
It makes about 1.1 million wheels every month, which puts it among the top five wheel manufacturers globally. Wheels India supplies wheels to all the leading OEMs in the different segments it operates including commercial vehicles, passenger cars, construction equipment, and tractors.
With the domestic market going through a slowdown, the company is working on enhancing its capabilities to be ready with new products and technologies once the economic conditions become better. It has a technical tie-up with Topy Industries, market leader in passenger car wheels in Japan, for collaborating on new products and innovations.
Since entering the air suspension segment two and a half decades ago, Wheels India has established itself as a preferred supplier of air-suspensions for buses, working with leading bus manufacturers in the country.
While one-third of its bus suspensions are sold as retro fitment, the company has seen an increase in demand for its suspensions from OEMs, mainly fuelled by the JnNurm scheme. It is quite natural that the company is eagerly looking forward to a second scheme next year. Currently, over 45,000 buses are running on Indian roads with Wheels India air-suspension.
“In the air suspension segment, we have been able to build the brand and new product concepts by working with end customers. We are fortunate to have worked with OEMs on innovations like the Ashok Leyland Janbus, where we share patents.
We have also offered electronic activation for air-suspension to some customers and 500 of them are already on road”, adds Mr. Ram. The company has reached global markets through OEM customers like Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland and is now looking at supplying to the retro-fitment markets in Srilanka and Thailand.
The company is also keen on extending its expertise in the air suspension segment by catering to other segments such as LCVs, trucks and trailers.. Wheels India has a partnership with an American company, Reyco Granning, for developing truck and trailer suspensions. It has had a good start having already supplied 100 trailer suspensions and 50 truck suspensions till date. With car-carriers and truck-carriers growing in numbers, we see huge potential in truck and trailer suspensions, which is also driven by applications such as petroleum transportation”, he says.
For defense applications, the company is working with Timoney Technology, an Irish company, with over four decades of experience in the niche field. The Indian Defense sector is poised to witness strong growth with huge investments likely to be made by the government in the coming years. Finally, to enhance its capabilities in developing suspensions for Vans and SUVs, Wheels India is working with Dunlop.
In 2011-12, the company made a turnover of around Rs. 100 crore in the air-suspension business. It has a production capacity of close to 1440 units per month at its air-suspension facility in Sriperumbudur near Chennai.
In terms of technology, the company is focusing on improving fuel efficiency for which light-weight design is a key aspect. With weight reduction on top priority, it is working on products with enhanced safety features, like tyre-pressure monitoring system(TPMS) for commercial vehicles.
Wheels India has seven manufacturing facilities strategically located in key regions across the country and also has 35 authorised service dealers. With investments slightly delayed owing to the slowdown, the company is working on expanding and realigning its existing capacities. For instance, the manufacturing of commercial vehicle wheels has been moved from Pune to Rampur while the capacity at its Pantnagar facility might be increased shortly.
With good technical expertise, strong partnerships, a new aftermarket brand and a five decade old experience in the Indian market, the company definitely seems to have got things in place to launch a strong bid to expand its market share in existing segments and establish its presence in new segments in the coming years.