The vehicle has been indigineously designed and developed by Tempo. Till now there were few options in the LCV range with 407 dominating the market. Bajaj Tempo has entered the pick-up truck segment with the launch of Excel. This is available in the price range of around Rs 3.75 lakh.

This vehicle will be available in three versions. To start with Tempo has launched the Excel-4 which has a payload of 3,600kg. Around 15 vehicles have already been delivered. This vehicle conforms to the new Euro I emission norm.

Excel offers a fuel economy of 10 plus per litre and a 15 per cent longer tyre life. Excel-3 with a payload of 3,000kg and Excel-2 for a payload of 2000kg will be launched sometime later this year. The company is working on achieving the new norms for these two versions.

These vehicles will alsobe available in cabin and chassis and base chassis version. These could be used for passenger transportation with 20 to 24 seats.

With this range Tempo will be able to cater to tonnage requirements from one to four tonnes. Bajaj Tempo had been losing some market as their old matador model had problems of space and carrying capacity.

However, there are no plans for now to replace the matador, which still commands a market. The new models will help the company to win back some of the market it lost due to these constraints. The company already has a network of close to 220 dealers in place to sell the new vehicle.

Even if Bajaj Tempo can get a 20 per cent market share will see the company will be sailing on smooth waters.