M&M launches new range of intermediary CVs

Betting on providing better profitability for Intermediary Commercial Vehicle (ICV) customers, Mahindra’s Truck and Bus Division (MTB) on Tuesday launched two models — Furio12 and Furio14 — with a starting price of Rs 17.45 lakh and Rs 18.10 lakh, respectively.

The ICV segment comprising 9-14 tonne gvw (gross vehicle weight) of vehicles sells 1,50,000 units per annum.

“Addressing the segment which grew at 17% CAGR in the last five years, with Furio we will become full range CV player extending from three-wheeler to 49 tonne gvw trucks,” said Pawan Goenka, managing director, M&M, during the launch.

Regarding the segment which already has three major players — Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland VECV — Vinod Sahay, CEO, MTB division believes that providing better profitability to customers through better fuel and operational efficiency, will help the company disrupt the segment.

Developed at a cost of Rs 600 crore, the company will be rolling out 21 Furio models over the next two years. While five of them will be launched will be launched in FY20 with BS-IV engines, remaining will be launched post April 2020 with BS-VI norms.

Commenting on how BS-VI norms will affect demand in CV industry in FY20, Rajan Wadhera, president, automotive sector, M&M, told FE, “If there will be demand for trucks, then whether its is BS-IV or BS-VI, both will be required. The only thing is whether people will want to replace BS-IV vehicle with BS-VI or BS-III with BS-IV. I dont think people will want to replace BS-IV with BS-VI but people will definitely want to replace a BS-III with BS-VI. So there could be pre-buying that might happen in FY20. Therefore, we anticipate the demand to be high during last four months before April 2020.” BS-VI norms will kick in from April 2020.

Adding to the challenges posed by BS-VI norms on automobile manufacturers, Goenka said, “Neither can we afford to stop too soon nor can we afford to continue for long because suddenly on a given day the sales of BS-IV has to stop. Therefore, closer to the deadline we can make a call on how the demand will be in last three months and accordingly stop production. Probably we will start manufacturing BS-VI vehicle sometime in January and BS-IV will stop sometime in February and finish BS-IV stock by the third week of March, 2020.”

Mahindra India