Bajaj Auto Ltd. (BAL), which has a 45 per cent share in three-wheeler light commercial vehicle (LCV) market, plans to launch product upgrades to rekindle market demand.
Speaking to The Hindu , R. C. Maheshwari, President, Commercial Vehicles, said, “There are good opportunities to grow in the market and we have drawn up aggressive plans. We will be launching upgrades of several of the models across fuel variants. The new products will be ergonomically designed with a new look, greater fuel efficiency and lower NVH (noise, vibration and harshness). These upgrades would happen in the first quarter of 2013-14.”
BAL sees a huge opportunity to up its share of 31 per cent in the diesel three-wheeler segment. “Piaggio is the market leader but we grew our market share by 5 per cent in the April-November period and sales grew 29 per cent during this period. Over the same period, the industry grew 4 per cent. Our objective this year is to increase our presence in the diesel LCV segment,” said Mr. Maheshwari.
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“The petrol / alternative fuel segment is growing at 7-10 per cent and we have a dominant 85 per cent plus share of the market,’’ said Mr. Maheshwari.
The growth for the three-wheeler industry comes from new state permits and from replacement demand. This year, around 40,000 permits were given in Delhi and Karnataka too has been giving permits. The replacement cycle is typically 15 years but with its new products, Bajaj hopes to generate excitement in the market and shorten this cycle.