[Ashley2]

Originally Posted by kadri007

I doubt this, Mahindra vehicles are Technically superior and strong than compared to a few others in the market. This truck was in On-road test for a pretty long time. So i hope Mahindra's would have made all efforts to make it a sucess. Also Mahindra vehicles are known for long term reliability.

I feel it would compete more with Eicher in the truck segment. The service network would also help Mahindra's to get thier market share easily.

Just by launching a handfull of trucks its really difficult to turn the market upside down even they are technologically superior products - here no way they are technologically higher compared to existing player except the tag Navistar.
The truck may seem to bold and beatiful but what counts finally is robustness in service, spares and reliability. Long term reliability of Mahindra is still a question mark in the hands of Customers. The cab star model which is already in LCV is yet to take off from customer.
So we need to look into this in two or three years down the line and not now.

[kadri007]

Originally Posted by Ashley2

Just by launching a handfull of trucks its really difficult to turn the market upside down
So we need to look into this in two or three years down the line and not now.

When Eicher launched its HCV, people said the same thing, but now if you see they have a good market share in the categories they are operating.

Similarly AMW which was not heard has been able to get a decent market share in the categories they are present.

Originally Posted by Ashley2

they are technologically superior products - here no way they are technologically higher compared to existing player except the tag Navistar.
The truck may seem to bold and beatiful but what counts finally is robustness in service, spares and reliability.

Mahindra Navistar are not going to compete with technologically advanced Volvo or Mercedes trucks, but are focused to compete with Tata, Eicher, AL.

Compared to the current offering by these manufacturers, Mahindra's have a good play groud to perform. Also price would be a important factor which we still dont know.

Originally Posted by Ashley2

Long term reliability of Mahindra is still a question mark in the hands of Customers. The cab star model which is already in LCV is yet to take off from customer.
So we need to look into this in two or three years down the line and not now.

Cabstar and a few other models may not have clicked in the past. But in recent times if you see most of the Mahindra models are sucessful.

Be it in MUV/SUV category or Tractors, they are doing good.

Getting a market share may not happen overnight but it may take a few years. The markets are expanding and changing from that of conventional trucks. Hence the new comers have a good oportunity ahead of them.

[teamveevee]

Originally Posted by kadri007

When Eicher launched its HCV, people said the same thing, but now if you see they have a good market share in the categories they are operating. Similarly AMW which was not heard has been able to get a decent market share in the categories they are present.

Inspite of Eicher and AMW garnering "Good market share". TM increased it market share during 2009 and commands more than 60% of the CV market share. That leaves Eicher with single digit market share. The company is still making lossess and need support from Volvo to survive and you call it a success. Eicher products are good, and may eventually grab market share. But it is not going to happen overnight.
AMW is a niche product

Mahindra Navistar are not going to compete with technologically advanced Volvo or Mercedes trucks, but are focused to compete with Tata, Eicher, AL.

Navistar International competes with MB and Volvo in US and have a major market share. Their product is on par with Competetors and advanced when compared to existing AL/TM products. But they will be defenitely pricier than offerings from TM/AL products. So i guess MB, Volvo and International fight it out at the upper end with out affecting TM/AL in the near future.

Cabstar and a few other models may not have clicked in the past. But in recent times if you see most of the Mahindra models are sucessful.
Be it in MUV/SUV category or Tractors, they are doing good.

Agree, Mahindra is No 1 in tractors. Other than that their only recent success is with Scorpio.

Getting a market share may not happen overnight but it may take a few years. The markets are expanding and changing from that of conventional trucks. Hence the new comers have a good oportunity ahead of them.

Well said, it is not going to happen the in the near term. The new comers with deep pockets and cash rich parents will survice. Defenitely Mahindra will be one among the new comers who will succeed.

Originally Posted by Spinnerr

But the model looks like a rip off from the Volvo design that is running around in Bangalore.

Agree, AL copied the design from a Chinese co which was a rip off from Volvo. I was referring mainly to the Plugin hybrid part. Not about the design.

[kadri007]

Originally Posted by teamveevee

Inspite of Eicher and AMW garnering "Good market share". TM increased it market share during 2009 and commands more than 60% of the CV market share. That leaves Eicher with single digit market share. The company is still making lossess and need support from Volvo to survive and you call it a success.

Someone achieving around 8/9% in the existing market with few models and limited resources, I would term it a success. They are not as big as Tata's or AL.

They have come up from scratch and if you see the market share of Tata's over the years, its has actually decreased. Few years back they had more than 70% market share. Now its in 60's.

Eicher has not come up the Tata or AL way by making just chassis, they started with a new trend with fully built unit HCV's.

And earlier there was only 2 major players, Tata and AL but now you have many.

Eicher with Volvo is aming at 15% market share and Mahindra Navistar is also aming at 15% market share in a period of 3 years.

Also you have Hino, AMW, MAN, Swaraj Mazda all competing for the same share. This will deffinitely impact Tata's and Leyland's.

tata stand was awesome ...esp the Prima trucks abs monsters ....the truck has 8 gears as seen in the pic...they plan to come with 13 gears very soon

ashok leyland trucks had a good draw

[nithesh]

Has anyone got a pricelist of current tata/leyland HCV truck range??
It would be really helpful.

cheers.

[smooth]

Tata, M&M now take Indian trucks global
You have to rub your eyes hard to believe the Tata Prima and Mahindra Navistar trucks can rival the best that Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Scania have to offer.

Their stylish cabs, with the multitude of buttons and gizmos and quality fittings, make you feel you are in a European truck. But then again, both have been developed by Indian manufacturers to rival the best the world has to offer and beat these in markets outside India as well.

"We conceived the idea in the earlier part of the decade, to not only offer Indian truckers a new experience, but also take it internationally," says Ravi Pisharody, head, commercial vehicles, at Tata Motors [ Get Quote ].

For Pisharody and his team, the project got accelerated once Tata Motors acquired Daewoo [ Get Quote ] Commercial Vehicles in 2004-05 and this, he says, is the first product to emerge from the joint development.

Around the same time, Mahindra announced a joint venture with International Trucks of USA (now Navistar) to develop their first trucks in the 10-49 tonne range.

The first products were supposed to roll out by the end of 2007, but the project was faced with a couple of hurdles. "We had to deal with two issues -- whether the truck cabin would be imported from Navistar's global operations or developed locally and whether we could build our trucks at Zaheerabad, Andhra Pradesh, or at a new site", says Rakesh Kalra, managing director.

"Eventually, we ended up developing the cabin in India for local needs, as well as for international operations, and we shifted to a new location in Chakan, Pune."

Both eventually ran through the same issues in developing trucks for global markets.

"Regulatory issues are different in different markets", says R Ramakrishnan, vice president sales and marketing, Tata Motors.

"We also had to commission research studies in markets where we lacked presence, pool in our information in markets we did, interview truckers and truck drivers and even study competition and general requirements in all the markets concerned," claims Ramakrishnan. Mahindra's Kalra echoes the same sentiment.

"We kept in mind regulatory requirements of the US, GCC, South Africa [ Images ] and Europe, while deriving data from Navistar and our sources regarding our target markets, their road conditions and requirements specific to those markets."

The true difference lies in the way they source components and have utilised external resources. "Our truck has been designed in Italy [ Images ], the drivetrain is from US and Europe, the chassis from Mexico, fabrication from Sweden, and dies from Japan [ Images ]", says Ramakrishnan.

Kalra, on the other hand, stresses that their truck uses nearly 100 per cent localised components and the trucks are designed in-house as well.

"We want to ensure that there is reverse flow of components back to Navistar," he says. The modular nature of both the Prima and MN range of trucks means that the applications and possibilities are endless. While Tata claims its trucks can go up to 560 bhp and 75 tonnes, Mahindra says its trucks can go up to 325 bhp and 49 tonnes, but there is scope for more powerful engines from Navistar.

The investments, too, are not small for trucks of such nature.

"We've invested close to Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) so far in the product and have an initial production capacity of 55,000 units that can be ramped up to 150,000 units," says Pisharody. Pawan Goenka, president, Mahindra Automotive, talks of even bigger numbers.

"Our joint development costs have been Rs 650 crore (Rs 6.5 billion) and of the Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) that have been invested in our plant at Chakan, Rs 2,500 crore (Rs 25 billion) is part of the venture."

Both eventually hope their products will change the face of Indian trucking forever, but equally believe they will leave their mark internationally, too.
Source: Tata, M&M now take Indian trucks global: Rediff.com Business

[thangu]

The Prima range of trucks look really cool, we will need to see if these will run on Indian roads in their current specification. Its nice to see buses as well from Eicher.

Most disappointing is the Mahindra-Navistar offerings, they do look nauseating, hope they change those front grills.

Leyland U Truck details

u truck2 ...complete details

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Nice eye candy. But as I said before, the new offerings from AL (and Tata) will suffer from the "M800 effect". Sell new technology alongside old (and cheaper) technology, and the customer will prefer the cheaper technology.

New entrants may not face this problem, since they are viewed as "fresh" faces.

[Amartya]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

Nice eye candy. But as I said before, the new offerings from AL (and Tata) will suffer from the "M800 effect". Sell new technology alongside old (and cheaper) technology, and the customer will prefer the cheaper technology.
New entrants may not face this problem, since they are viewed as "fresh" faces.

I have to think a bit more about that, though it seems true in general. Specially since CV manufacturers usually are stuck with the lowest cost maximum overloading philosophy.

OT: I thought that Tata's display at the Expo had products that were more thoroughly engineered than AshLey. The Prima range of trucks had Daewoo's inputs and the range seems really world class at first glance. I had had the good fortune of taking a ride in a Tata Novus (the Daewoo truck) and it was fantastic.
AshLey' trucks seem more like facelifted and slightly re-engineered trucks currently in the range.

[hvkumar]

Is the H-Series engine used in the U-Trucks of AL their own? Or derived from the old Hino range of engines?

Good to see AL responding to the rising threat from the Volvos, Navistars, Daimlers of the world.

[MileCruncher]

From one of the AL pictures taken at Auto Expo, are we going to see the heavy duty wider single tyre in India compared to twin tyres