Venu Takes TVS Premium

Puts Europe at the centre of plans to take the company into higher margin categories.

- Karan Dhar

TVS MOTOR managing director Sudarshan Venu is ramping up the company’s premium portfolio and focusing on electric vehicles (EVs) as India’s third-largest two-wheeler maker looks to increase domestic market share and make inroads into Europe. These are ambitious moves for a company that has so far relied on exports to developing countries. “We have started taking small steps into Europe. A lot of growth has come from emerging markets so far—South Asia, parts of Africa and Latin America. Europe is a big premium two-wheeler market,” Venu tells Fortune India. TVS had snapped up Britain’s luxury motorbike maker Norton Motorcycles for ₹153 crore in 2020. It has spent around ₹1,200 crore to revive the brand to its former glory. “You will start seeing more action in Europe with launch of Norton in second half of 2025,” says Venu. TVS Motor sold over four million scooters, motorcycles and mopeds for the first time in FY24, surpassing its pre-pandemic sales at a time when rivals Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp are yet to recover to their previous highs.

Premiumisation is paying off on the domestic front too. TVS has a higher share in premium motorbikes in the 150cc-200cc segment with its Apache series; the industry’s overall product mix is skewed towards entrylevel motorcycles. In fast-growing 110cc to 125cc commuter segment, TVS doubled sales from 2,39,388 to 4,78,443 units in FY24, thanks to Raider. About half (49%) of TVS Motor’s sales came from motorcycles, 38% from scooters and the rest from mopeds.

“Customers are upgrading. The industry is back on growth path. There is huge under-penetration of personal mobility,” says Venu. “With increasing affluence in India and other emerging markets, there has been an increase in premiumisation. People want more features, more connectivity, more power, bluetooth helmets, etc.”