The wave of the LCV from M&M has set in the zones of west and the north in India and the current sweep is directed towards the South. Already the company has secured 25% share in this segment and the production at the Chakan plant is to be increased to 3000 units from the existing 2000 units a month. The all country launch of this truck will be on the lines of 0.5 tonne compact Gio. The company anticipates a growth of truck and mini-truck in its wing and seeks to secure 24-25% share with the launch of Maximmo during the end of this fiscal. Of these, the mini-truck is expected to grow by 30% (1.27lakh units in 2009-10 taking the toll of sale to 1.6 lakh units), said the company’s Senior VP for Automotive sales.(Mini-truck and passenger carrier from Mahindra)
The company has a lot of confidence in this mini-truck segment which has an estimated worth of Rs4000 crore. There will be a counter against Tata Ace which is doing some excellent business-90% with the sale of 8000-9000 units per month. Other players in this category are Piaggio’s Ape and Hindustan Motors. There is a heavy demand in the commercial vehicles in the country after a debacle in the Q2of 2008-09- a drop by 21.7%. but the growth now is by 38.3% as LCV has been the first to recover. The growth may be due to the advance booking made in the event of emission norm implementation. M&M is all set to launch more models in this Maximmo platform, preferably CNG variant and a passenger vehicle to drive the brand image to overseas.