TVS Motor to launch new 125 cc bike

TVS Motor Company is to strengthen its product portfolio in the 125 cc motorcycle segment with the launch of another vehicle this quarter. The new 125 cc vehicle will be a variant of its existing 110 cc vehicle Victor GX.

The product basket at the entry level segment would also see an addition shortly with the launch of another variant of its entry level brand, StaR. The new vehicle will be slightly more expensive than the last version of StaR, and take the number of vehicles under the StaR banner to three.

The new launches are part of the company's overall growth plan that includes a plant to make step thru vehicles in Indonesia and three-wheelers.

According to Venu Srinivasan, chairman and managing director of the company, the $ 50 million Indonesian operation will be on stream in less than 15 months.

The three-wheeler project and a new plant in Himachal Pradesh to make two-wheelers will be on stream in less than a year, he added.

Unlike India, the market in Indonesia is dominated by step thrus. Srinivasan said that the company's plant would have a capacity of 200,000 to 250,000 vehicles a year. The step thrus would be powered by 100-125 cc engines.

TVS Motor has readied the prototype for the Indonesian market. The price of the entry step thru model in Indonesia is about $ 900 (about Rs 39,000).

In the domestic market, TVS Motor aims to increase its marketshare in motorcycles- its mainstay. Srinivasan said that the aim was to increase its marketshare to 18 per cent from the current level of about 13.7 per cent.