Industry Talk Filling White Spaces

IN AN INDUSTRY TALK WITH CV SESSION, JALAJ GUPTA, BUSINESS HEAD, COMMERCIAL VEHICLES, MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA LTD. AND DR VENKAT SRINIVAS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT - PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT HEAD, COMMERCIAL VEHICLES - MAHINDRA GROUP SPOKE TO ASHISH BHATIA ON THE STRATEGY OF FILLING WHITE SPACES FOR GROWTH

- ASHISH BHATIA

Q. What are the opportunities you’re confident of tapping with the addition of the Furio 7 to the product portfolio? Have you succeeded at filling the white spaces?

A. Jalaj Gupta: If you look at the LCV segment, the TIV was about 36,000, about two years ago. And this year also we are anticipating the entire LCV TIV to be somewhere around the same range, maybe marginally a shade lower than 36,000. Now if you look at the sub-segments of the LCV segment, from three and a half tonne to seven and a half tonne (3.5-tonne to 7.5-tonne), MTBD is present in the 3.5-tonne to the six-tonne segment with the Jayo. That’s where we play. In the six- to 7.5-tonne sub-segment, which accounts for 50 per cent of the total LCV TIV, we didn’t exist there. So with the launch of this new LCV, the Furio 7 we are addressing this entire six to 7.5-tonne TIV. What it does to us is that it gives us a shot at addressing the entire TIV of LCVs starting from 3.5-tonne to 7.5-tonne this. Up till now, we were addressing 50 per cent of that TIV. This gives us the opportunity to take a crack at the remaining 50 per cent of the sales.

Dr Venkat Srinivas, Senior vice president - Product Development Head, Commercial Vehicles - Mahindra Group

Q. How are you filling the white spaces in the industry as a whole?