THE domestic commercial vehicles (CV) industry is expected to clock 10-11 per cent growth in the current fiscal. Increased sales of light commercial vehicles (LCV) would be a major contributor to this growth, according to Mr Prem K. Verma, Head - Sales & Marketing (LCV & Small Commercial Vehicles), Tata Motors Ltd.
Speaking to newspersons at the launch of the Tata 207 DI EX Flat Load Body in the pick-up category here on Thursday, Mr Verma said the pick-up category had emerged the fastest-growing within the CV segment and registered a compounded average growth of 48 per cent in the last four years.
Last fiscal, pick-up variants accounted for 52,000 units of the 3 lakh units CV market. Soon it would account for around 25 per cent of the overall commercial vehicles industry. Tata Motors has a 40 per cent share of the national market for pick-up variants.
Mr Verma said various factors had spurred the "exponential growth" in the domestic market for pick-ups. Besides deployment in rural areas where the roads were relatively narrow, these pick-ups were ideal multi-application, multi-terrain vehicles that provide high performance with low maintenance requirements. Besides, in towns and cities where there are restrictions on the movement of heavy commercial vehicles, these pick-ups could serve as a final-leg distribution vehicle for a range of uses such as distribution of milk, vegetables, poultry and FMCG items.
According to Mr Verma, Tata Motors had first launched its pick-up range in 2002. "With the launch of the Tata 207 DI EX, which has been designed based on feedback from our customers, we have also covered the last leg of the distribution business," he said, and added that the vehicle would help the company augment its share of the domestic market for pick-up variants.
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