With tens and thousands of people losing their lives and livelihoods in quake-hit Turkey and given the long process of recovery from such disasters, Indian automotive and tractor-making businesses expect things to slow down in the coming years.
The trail of destruction, estimated to cost up to $84 billion in restoration, may derail plans of many Indian companies operating in the region.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp and TVS Motor Company have operations in Turkey. While M&M has R&D and manufacturing facilities through two local entities in the tractor space, the three two-wheeler-making companies have sales offices there.
Hemant Sikka, president, farm equipment sector, M&M, said: “At Mahindra we operate through two subsidiaries companies Erkunt Traktor Sanayii AS and Hisarlar Makina Sanayi. We do not have any damage to our assets and all our employees are safe. Our companies are doing their best to provide all the assistance required to help local communities affected by the earthquake.”
The Turkish tractor market clocks sales of around 65,000 units a year, which is the same as a month’s volume in India. Erkunt, a 100% subsidiary of M&M, is the fourth-largest player in the tractor segment in Turkey. M&M has the biggest presence in Turkey among the Indian companies.
Rakesh Sharma, executive director, Bajaj Auto, said: “Turkey is a very important market for us as we have nurtured the sports commuter segment there and worked at building an efficient supply chain with our channel partners and luckily, they are all well. But from a sales point of view, the volumes are small, so the quantitative impact is low.”
The Pune-based Bajaj Auto sells seven motorcycle models in Turkey under the Pulsar and Dominar brands through local multi-brand distributor Kuralkan. Bajaj Auto is the biggest exporter of two-wheelers from India. Turkey’s share in Bajaj’s total exports was not immediately known, though the company has been selling its bikes in that market for more than eight years.
Turkey is the fifth-largest market for two-wheelers in Europe with annual volumes of more than 256,000 units. The country is dominated by Chinese brands followed by Japanese and Indian brands.
In December, Chennai-based TVS Motor Company had announced plans of launching Euro-5 compliant two-wheelers in Turkey by March. TVS claims that the Jupiter and Apache 200 are popular products in the Turkish market where it has partnered with distributor Ugur Motor Vehicles. An email sent to TVS remained unanswered at the time of going to press.
Hero MotoCorp has been operating in Turkey since 2014 and operates through a network of more than 100 touchpoints, providing sales, service and spares. Turkey is a key market for Hero MotoCorp and only last year the Delhi-based company launched Euro-5 compliant variants of the Xpulse 200 and Dash 110 and Dash 125. An email sent to Hero MotoCorp remained unanswered at the time of going to press.
