Volvo-Eicher JV to plan new commercial vehicle portfolio

[DukeNukem]

Volvo-Eicher Commercial Vehicles (VECV) has announced its plan to work on a new portfolio of trucks in a bid to make a rejuvenated attempt at imposing itself in the domestic medium and heavy commercial vehicle (M&HCV) segment.

Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland dominate this segment in India with over 80% market share. However, both local and international manufacturers have been chipping away at their customer base, and VCEV will be hoping to join in. India’s truck market is the second largest in the world by volume after China.

The new products from this Volvo-Eicher joint venture will cover the entire 5 to 49 tonne range (includes Light, Medium and Heavy commercial vehicles) and will come with new platforms, engines and cabins from Volvo’s global line-up, the Economic Times reported. The entire range is expected to hit dealers in 2-3 years.

The VCEV joint venture came into being in the aftermath of Eicher’s unsuccessful attempt to enter the M&HCV market in 2005. As the second largest global commercial vehicle manufacturer, Volvo was expected to bring in expertise and experience to help the joint venture make an impact in the domestic market. To increase its M&HCV market share from 3.4% to 15% by 2015, the joint venture will invest Rs 1,000 crore in the next few years.

Smaller players like Daimler AG (as BharatBenz), Navistar International (in a JV with Mahindra & Mahindra) and Scania AB (Volkswagen-owned) have aggressive growth plans as well.

[DReddy]

If the new vehicles plying around their plant in pithampur are to be seen, one would agree that the new offerings are a step in the right direction. Thanks to Volvo, the new products have all new engines, cabins, suspension... all new everything for that matter. I am sure that the other players aiming at a share of the AL/TM market have similar offerings lined up. The commercial vehicle scene is definitely hotting up and it is the Indian transporter and trucker community that is going to benefit from this.