Mahindra Navistar Set to Roll-Out New Trucks to Tap into Market Share

The Indian auto giant, Mahindra & Mahindra and the US based International Truck & Engine Corporation have a joint venture for trucks known as the Mahindra Navistar. Under this joint venture six to seven new products have been lined-up in order to move deeper into the truck market of India, which has emerged as a highly competitive one in this segment. Mahindra Navistar’s market share has seen a 100 percent hike in the market share in the last quarter of FY 2012. From the company’s plant in Chakan, the 5,000^th truck was introduced in May 2012 and now this JV is planning on expanding its market share in the Indian truck market through a new and wide range of products and dealers network.

According to the Managing Director of Mahindra Navistar Automotive Ltd. Mr. Nalin Mehta, the company is at the tipping point and is ramping up the volume to 500-600 heavy trucks. He added that despite the challenges of short term, the company has stepped on the path of achieving its aim of making a sale of 40,000 to 50,000 trucks every year in the next 3-4 years. In the fiscal year 2011-12, the company sold around 3,500 trucks. The trucks under the joint venture of Mahindra Navistar took a bit more time in winning the acceptance of the people and in order to keep this in check the company has planned to re-strategise its product line-up with the help of feedbacks from the customers.

In order to tap into the market for wider share, in the current fiscal year the truck variants lined-up from the stable of the Mahindra Navistar include the MN31 (tonne) 8X2 haulage tipper that carries coal and sand etc for the purpose of supplying it to the power and infrastructure industry. Also included are the MN25 and MN31 tonne variants, which are bulkier and are used in the cement industry, the MN25 and MN31 tonne reefer vans that are used in the food processing industry, the MN25 tonne RMC (Ready Mix concrete) variant that is used in the construction industry. The current scenario states that the Mahindra Navistar has bagged every third customer amongst the top 100 fleet owners of its customers and 33 percent of the customers have given the Mahindra India trucks a repeat order, whose value is 3 times more than the earlier ones. In order to enhance the confidence that customers put into the brand, Mahindra India is offering an unlimited mileage warranty of 4 years along with an additional promise of fixing the trucks and make them running within 48 hours of breakdown or paying Rs. 1000 every day.

The dealership network of the company is also expected to see an increase in the number from 50 to 80; the service points are also increased from 1000 to 1800 by the end of the fiscal year 2012-13.  Mr. Nalin Mehta hopes that the momentum of the sales will pick up in the next year and the medium and heavy trucks market will grow around 4-7 percent. In order to expand its foothold overseas, the trucks of Mahindra India are also expected to hit the roads of South Africa, which are under test currently and will be introduced in the next couple of years. In addition to offering the Mahindra Navistar trucks in the RHD (right hand drive) markets of the SAARC, the company is also working on the Left Hand Drive (LHD) avatar of the trucks and also on the development of the special cabs for the market of South America.