Eicher Motors Optimistic about 2016, Expects Continued Growth in Buses Market
Published On Mar 26, 2016
Indian commercial vehicle manufacturer Eicher Motors made big gains in the medium and heavy trucks segment over the past one year. Now, the JV partner of VE Commercial Vehicles looks forward for greater opportunities in the public transport segment, thanks to the flow of investments in infrastructure segment. In an interview, CEO of VECV, Mr. Vinod Aggarwal has said that demand for buses will go up in the coming days. Mr. Aggarwal expects an increased purchasing from the state transport players in the upcoming fiscal year.
In India, the demand for larger buses is still on the lower side, while buses in 15 tonne segment are largely operated by the state transport organizations. With government aiming to curb emissions and to modernize aging bus fleet, Eicher Motors expects that there will be a new demand for large buses from the state transport organizations. The company also expects that there will be a continued growth in school bus segment.
Eicher Motors witnessed a sales improvement of 44.3 percent in commercial vehicle space in December 2015 by registering 5068 units. The company's heavy duty trucks saw an immense growth of 36 percent, wherein construction vehicle sales grew by 5 percent. Now, Eicher Motors is eyeing the bus segment, which is dominated by the likes of Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland. It currently has a production facility at Pitampur that has a capacity to manufacture 5500 trucks per month. In the interview, Mr. Vinod Aggarwal has hinted that they could increase this number to 7500 units per month, which takes the annual count to more than 1,000 units. However, with growing competition from German and Swedish players, it would be interesting to see how Eicher Motors performs in the market.
