The Chandigarh-based light commercial vehicle manufacturer Swaraj Mazda on Wednesday rolled out 40-seater luxury bus worth Rs 60 lakh in partnership with Japanese Truck maker Isuzu Motors Limited. To capture a big-pie in the growing market for luxury buses, the JV is aiming at selling 300 such buses this year.
Speaking with FE, company?s executive director (works) RP Sehgal said, ?We have begun our marketing campaign which will go on for three months. During this period we will the test the market for our new product. We have already dispatched the two vehicles in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and will then move to Delhi. After three months we will market our products covering all the four regions of the country. We have huge demand from travel operators and will exploit all possible tie-ups?.
?Under this JV we will also launch 21-seater bus shortly. Besides, in the coming years we will introduce trucks which will scale our operations?, he added.
Swaraj Mazda soon after its JV with Isuzu launched its two state-of-the-art plants, one for production of Isuzu vehicles and second for the manufacture of bus bodies which were kicked off in August 2006 in Ropar. The capital outlay of these plants is estimated at Rs 400 crore.
The market for luxury buses is set to grow as a dozen new entrants including leading automakers vying for a share of this niche segment.
Supporting the above statement Sehgal said, ?Commercial vehicle industry has registered impressive growth in the last five years. Volumes in last fiscal shot up to 5, 46,000 units from the 2002-03 level of 2,03,000 units. This phenomenal growth has emerged on the account of all-round economic development that has taken place. Also, construction of new global standard highway-golden quadrilateral project, North-south, east-west highways and strengthening the existing highways have fuelled the industry growth .?